Call for terminations to be allowed in fatal abnormality cases

A number of Fine Gael backbenchers are urging James Reilly, the health minister, to examine legal advice which says that allowing abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities would be compatible with the Constitution.

Under current Irish law, women have to carry a foetus to birth even if it will not live beyond delivery.

These circumstances are not included in proposed laws allowing for abortion in limited circumstances because, according to the Government, it would be in breach of the constitutional protection of the right to life of the unborn, and therefore, would require a referendum.

Now, a campaign group, Terminations for Medical Reasons, have obtained legal advice to the contrary.

The group presented its advice last week to a cross- party group of TDs and senators. After the meeting, Dublin South-Central TD Catherine Byrne contacted Dr Reilly to ask him to consider including fatal foetal abnormalities as legal grounds for a termination in the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill.

There are about 1,500 such cases diagnosed in Ireland each year and it is estimated that, in 80% of such cases, a termination is carried out abroad.

“I do think we owe it to these women not to have them endure a pregnancy that they know there is not going to be any life at the end of,” said Ms Byrne.

She said she was moved by the “precious but horrific stories” of women who carried their babies back from England in boxes after terminating their non-viable pregnancies.

“That is not what civilised society is about,” she said.

She said that if it was not possible to include fatal foetal abnormalities in the legislation, the Government should go back to it before 2016.

United Left Alliance TD Richard Boyd Barrett, who chaired the meeting, is to draw up an amendment to the proposed legislation to include such cases. He revealed at the meeting that he and his former partner had lost a baby girl shortly after her birth in 2002.

He said the fatal condition was not diagnosed during the pregnancy, but “one thing that myself and my ex-partner were absolutely clear about at the time, in this awful situation, was that if we had have known, we would certainly have wanted to have had that choice”.