After four days, High Court gets to key issue

IT took four days for the High Court to address the key question in the landmark hearing in which a pregnant teenager challenged the right of the Health Service Executive to try and prevent her travelling to Britain for an abortion.

While time might be of the essence for the young girl — known only a Miss D — who is 17 weeks’ pregnant with a child that will not survive outside the womb, the fact is that wheels of justice still manage to grind very slowly.

It was already known that a HSE official had written to the local garda superintendent where Miss D lives, in Leinster, requesting gardaí to prevent her from travelling to Britain for an abortion.