Woman ‘not entitled’ to make submission in embryo case

A DUBLIN woman was told she was not legally entitled to make submissions in an appeal to determine the fate of three frozen embryos.

The submission was to have been made on grounds the Attorney General had, during the appeal, “completely misrepresented” the intentions of herself and some 850,000 people who voted in favour of the anti-abortion amendment in 1983.

The Attorney General’s argument that an embryo created as a result of IVF treatment is not an “unborn” within the meaning of the 1983 amendment (Article 40.3.3) and attracts no constitutional protection did not reflect her intention “to protect human life” when she voted in 1983, Esme Caulfield, of Brookwood Park, Artane, said.