Supreme Court to hear appeal over rights of unborn

A Supreme Court case gets underway today to decide the extent of the constitutional rights of the unborn.

The State is appealing against a High Court finding that the word 'unborn' in the constitution means 'child' - giving babies in the womb protection beyond the 8th Amendment.

The ruling arose out of the case of a Nigerian man facing deportation while his partner was pregnant in Ireland.

He successfully argued his unborn child had the right to have its father stay in the country, despite not yet being born.