Abortion in Ireland is illegal unless the pregnancy is in threat of endangering the life of the woman (as differential to her health) through continuance of the pregnancy.
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At independence, the Offences against the Person Act 1861 remained in force, maintaining all abortions to be illegal and subject to punishment. One of Ireland's best known abortionists, Mamie Cadden was famously sentenced to death by hanging in 1957 when one of her patients died. In response to the 1967 legalisation of abortion in the United Kingdom and the subsequent rise in the numbers of Irish women travelling to the UK each year to obtain an abortion, pro-life groups in Ireland began to press for an explicit amendment to the Irish constitution banning abortion.[citation needed] In 1983 the Constitution of Ireland was amended to add in what became generally known as the 'Pro Life Amendment', which asserted that the unborn had an explicit right to life from conception, with the Irish State guaranteeing to vindicate that right. In the referendum, the case for the amendment was argued by the main opposition party Fianna Fáil, the Catholic Church, some Protestant church leaders and a pro-life lobby group called the Pro-Life Amendment Campaign (PLAC) (which had campaigned for the amendment, arguing that the Irish Courts could theoretically face their own Roe v. Wade court case)[citation needed] while the case against was put by a pro-choice lobby group called the Anti-Amendment Campaign, which included future President of Ireland Mary Robinson.[citation needed] The arguments against the amendment were also put by the then Irish government led by the centre-right Fine Gael under Garrett FitzGerald, and most mainstream Protestant leaders.[citation needed] In the debate, no one actually advocated the legalisation of abortion.[citation needed]
While the 'Pro-Life Amendment' established the principle of the right to life of the fetus, with due regard to the equal right to life of the woman in Irish constitutional law, practical problems subsequently arose with its meaning. In 1992, a major controversy erupted over the issue of whether a suicidal minor who was a statutory rape victim, and who became pregnant, could leave Ireland for an abortion that is lawful in another country (Attorney General v. X, known as the 'X Case'). The Supreme Court interpreted the Pro-Life Amendment as giving a right to abortion in certain limited circumstances, in a judgment which came to be known as the 'X Case,' including when the woman's life was in danger.[citation needed]In the aftermath of the Grogan case the debate over Abortion in Ireland grew even more heated with widespread demonstrations taking place all over the country. In one instance 100 000 people marched from O'Connell Street to the Irish Parliament.
Court injunctions issued in 1988[citation needed] and 1990[citation needed] under the 1983 amendment barred family planning groups and student groups from offering abortion counseling, information and aid in travelling to Britain to procure abortions. These injunctions grew increasingly unpopular, particularly after the 'X case'.[citation needed] Questions were also raised as to whether the bans on access to information violated provisions in the Maastricht Treaty.[citation needed] Two constitutional amendments were subsequently added in 1993 that guaranteed the 'right to travel' and the 'right to information' (a third amendment that would have defined when abortions could be considered legal was defeated). Due to questions about the constitutionality of the amendments, the changes did not come into force until 1995.[citation needed]
The issue of what form of constitutional prohibition on abortion Ireland should have (if any) has been revisited in a number of referendums, but no clear result or consensus has emerged. In theory, abortion is legal in Ireland if there is a risk to the life of the woman. A provision exists in the Irish constitution to allow Dáil Éireann to legislate on this, however no political party has risked it, and in the meantime, while it is legal in theory, the body that holds medical licences in Ireland considers it malpractice for any doctor to perform an abortion. The Irish Medical Council stated "The deliberate and intentional destruction of the unborn child is professional misconduct. Should a child in utero lose its life as a side-effect of standard medical treatment of the mother, then this is not unethical. Refusal by a doctor to treat a woman with a serious illness because she is pregnant would be grounds for complaint and could be considered to be professional misconduct".[citation needed]
Estimates to the number of Irish women seeking abortions in Britain vary, in the 1990s it is alleged that between 1,500 and 10,000 women who stated in hospital records that they were 'Irish' travel annually.[citation needed] The official figure is 45,000 since 1967.[citation needed] In May 2007, a pregnant 17 year old girl, known only as Miss D, who was pregnant with a foetus suffering from anencephaly was prevented from travelling to Britain by the Health Service Executive. The High Court ruled on May 9 2007 that she could not be prevented from travelling. [1]
It has never been illegal in Ireland to provide standard medical care to a pregnant woman which may result in an indirect abortion. That is, where the abortion is not the desired outcome of the act, but a side effect of the treatment. The crime under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 occurs when the intention is the deliberate and direct abortion of the fetus. As with any criminal offence Mens rea must be proved as well as Actus reus.
In 2005, three Irish women who had previously traveled to England for abortions brought suit in the European Court of Human Rights asserting that restrictive and unclear Irish laws violate several provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case was heard before the Grand Chamber of the Court on December 9, 2009 and a decision is forthcoming in 2010. The European Court of Human Rights has never determined whether the Convention protects a right to life of the unborn or conversely any right to an abortion. The case A. B. and C. v. Ireland presents an opportunity for the Court to take a position. The Court's decision will be binding on Ireland and all of the contracting states of the Council of Europe.[2]
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