Ivana Bacik: Repeal the Eighth Amendment and restore women’s bodily autonomy

Yesterday’s ruling in the North should lead to renewed calls, ahead of the election, for Ireland to repeal the Eighth Amendment, writes Ivana Bacik

We have important lessons to learn from yesterday’s landmark Belfast High Court decision.

Mr Justice Mark Horner ruled that abortion laws in the North breaches Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which guarantees the right to privacy. This ruling was made on two grounds: The criminalisation of abortion in cases both of fatal foetal abnormality, and of rape.