Family & Life

Irish Government to Defend Abortion Law at Euro Court : 11th Dec 09

Irish Government to Defend Abortion Law at Euro Court

Responding to a legal challenge to Ireland’s abortion laws this week at the European Court of Human Rights, the Irish Government will robustly defend her Constitutional ban on abortion. A case has been taken alleging that the nation’s pro-life law violates women’s human rights.

The lawsuit involves three women, backed by the Irish Family Planning Association, who assert that having to go abroad to abort their babies put their health at risk. The court’s grand chamber of 17 judges will hear the case on December 9th.

Information given to legal teams for the Government and the three women shows that one of the main lines of questioning will focus on whether the State’s abortion law violates a key article of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Article 8 says a person has the “right to respect for private and family life” that public authorities should not interfere with. The court will also ask what exact procedures are in place when a pregnancy poses a risk to the mother’s life, and how a woman pursues a lawful abortion in Ireland.

Under the State’s laws, abortion is illegal, but a baby may be killed if there is a substantial risk to the mother’s life, including the threat of suicide. Based in Strasbourg, the court, which is separate from the EU, adjudicates human rights issues among all 47 member states of the Council of Europe.

As a signatory to the ECHR—now incorporated into Irish law—the Government must seek to implement whatever decisions the courts make. The names of the women, known as “A”, “B” and “C”, will remain secret as the case proceeds. One says she ran the risk of an ectopic pregnancy, where her baby developed outside her womb; another says she received chemotherapy for cancer; and the third says her children were placed in care because she was unable to cope.

They argue that the lack of any effective “remedy” at home means they satisfied the requirement to exhaust domestic legal remedies. But the Government contends that the women have not exhausted domestic legal remedies. Also, it robustly challenges their suggestions that Ireland lacks post-abortion care or counselling.

Attorney General Paul Gallagher lead an eight-strong legal team to Strasbourg to defend the ban. In an indication of how robustly the State will defend Ireland's ban, Mr Gallagher has engaged two of the country's leading constitutional lawyers, Donal O'Donnell SC and Brian Murray SC. Mr Gallagher, who may personally appear as an advocate before the court, is expected to argue that Ireland is entitled to rely on the "margin of appreciation doctrine" which is often used in cases involving sensitive domestic legal issues.

This doctrine affords a range of discretion to individual member states in the interpretation of convention law and allows the ECHR to take into effect the fact that the convention will be interpreted differently in different signatory states.

Criticising the motives of the IFPA, the Pro-Life Campaign said the case ignored the fact that Ireland without abortion was “the safest country in the world in which to be pregnant”, and there was growing evidence that abortion had very serious negative consequences for some women.

Dr Berry Kiely of the Pro-Life Campaign said: “It is regrettable that the IFPA creates unnecessary fears about women’s health in an attempt to have abortion foisted on Ireland by a European court.” The Irish Times. November 30/December 9. The Irish Independent. December 7. The Irish Examiner. December 8.

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Family & Life

Irish Government to Defend Abortion Law at Euro Court : 11th Dec 09

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