UN experts say Ireland abortion ban subjected woman to suffering and discrimination

Experts from the Geneva-based Human Rights Committee relayed their findings after contemplating a complaint from the woman, who in her 21st week of pregnancy was faced with carrying a foetus that would die shortly after birth.

This meant she had to choose “between continuing her non-viable pregnancy or travelling to another country while carrying a dying foetus, at personal expense and separated from the support of her family, and to return while not fully recovered,” the Committee said.

The woman travelled to the UK for a termination and returned 12 hours later, having had the procedure.

In Ireland, she was denied the after-care and bereavement counselling which is made available to women who suffer miscarriages.

The Committee noted that this treatment failed to take into account her medical needs and constituted discrimination.

“Many of the negative experiences she went through could have been avoided if (she) had not been prohibited from terminating her pregnancy in the familiar environment of her own country and under the care of health professionals whom she knew and trusted,” the Committee stated.

Ireland’s Abortion Information Act permits healthcare providers to provide information about abortion and when abortion will be permitted in Ireland, however they could be criminally sanctioned for behaviour which could be viewed as advocating abortion.

The Committee wrote in its findings that this was detrimental to both the woman, whom is seeking the best advice for the benefit of her and the foetus, and the health-care provider to distinguish between supporting the decision to terminate and promoting abortion.

In this case, Ireland is obligated to provide the woman with an effective remedy – including adequate psychological treatment, the Committee ruled. Ireland is further obligated to prevent other instances such as this occurring.

“To this end, the State party should amend its law on voluntary termination of pregnancy, including if necessary its Constitution, to ensure compliance with the Covenant, including effective, timely and accessible procedures for pregnancy termination in Ireland, and take measures to ensure that health-care providers are in a position to supply full information on safe abortion services without fearing being subjected to criminal sanctions,” the Committee’s findings said.

Ireland said that the country’s constitutional and legislative framework reflected “the nuanced and proportionate approach to the considered views of the Irish Electorate on the profound moral question of the extent to which the right to life of the foetus should be protected and balanced against the rights of the woman.”