Ireland Women Take Lawsuit to Top Court to Overturn Abortion Ban
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 10, 2005
Dublin, Ireland (LifeNews.com) — Three Irish woman are taking a lawsuit to the European Court of Human Rights seeking to overturn Ireland’s ban on most abortions. The women are receiving help from the pro-abortion Irish Family Planning Association, which announced a campaign yesterday to overturn Ireland’s abortion laws.
The women, whose identities will not be revealed, all had recent abortions in Britain or elsewhere because Ireland bans all abortions except those necessary to prevent the mother’s death.
Ivana Bacik, spokeswoman for the IFPA campaign, said the three women filed the case Monday. She said their complaint involves four articles of the European Convention of Human Rights regarding the right to privacy and stopping discrimination against women.
Bacik, a law professor at Trinity College Dublin, said the pro-abortion group is providing the women legal research and help in the case.
"It is our assessment that the grounds under which these women are taking the case are very strong, and we hope that the case will advance quickly through the court, ultimately making a strong recommendation to the Government to address what, in our view, is a violation of human rights," she told the Irish Independent newspaper.
Pro-Life Campaign spokeswoman Audrey Dillon said IFPA and the lawsuit ignore the humanity of the unborn child and the damage abortion does to women.
"Every society has to confront the reality of crisis pregnancy," Dillon said. "The challenge is to create a more welcoming society for expectant mothers and their unborn children by providing positive alternatives to abortion."
