Lawyer Julie Kay, who won a judgement at the European Court of Human Rights against Ireland’s ban on abortion, argues that restrictions on abortion related to the life or health of the mother are unacceptable. “There are,” she writes, “no guidelines for doctors on the distinction between a medical procedure necessary to preserve a woman’s life versus a procedure that would merely protect her health.” She describes this distinction as “bogus.” [Slate]
Category: Ireland
Irish panel of appointees recommends compulsory referral for abortion
In a long-awaited report, a panel appointed by the Irish government to study the operation of the abortion law in Ireland has stated the government is obliged to provide guidelines that establish how women in Ireland can obtain abortions consistent with Irish law. It recommends that a physician who objects to abortion for reasons of conscience should be forced to facilitate the procedure by referring a patient to a willing colleague, and to provide an abortion “when the risk of death is imminent and inevitable.” The report is not clear on the extent to which conscientious objection might be allowed to other health care workers. [Report, p. 42, 6.9]
American obstetrician comments on death of woman in Ireland
Obstetrician Lisa Harris, whose column in the New England Journal of Medicine asserted that protection of conscience laws fail to recognize that abortion providers are motivated by conscientious convictions, repeated her arguments in an interview with the New Scientist magazine. While she admitted that the circumstances of the death of Savita Halappanavar in Ireland are not clear, she speculated that the Halappanavar might not have died had an abortion been provided. She stated that similar problems arise in denominational hospitals in the United States. She described the case of a woman who was referred to her with a “septic abortion ” because the foetus was still alive, and the religiously affilicated hospital where she was first treated would not induce an abortion. [New Scientist]
Controversy in Ireland over death of woman after abortion refused
The death of a 31 year old woman at the Galway University Hospital last month is generating enormous controversy in Ireland. Savita Halappanavar was 17 weeks pregnant when she presented with back pain on 21 October. Reports indicate that she was miscarrying, but that the foetus was still alive. She requested an abortion several times but was refused. The foetus was removed surgically once its heart stopped two days later. She developed septicaemia and died on 29 October. Several investigations are underway. [Irish Times]
‘Expert panel’ on abortion generates controversy in Ireland
A panel of 13 ‘experts’ chaired by Mr. Justice Seán Ryan of the High Court of Ireland is to study a European Court of Human Rights ruling on abortion and advise the government what should be done in response [News release; Irish Times]. Four members of the panel – Mary O’Toole, Dr. Peter Boylan, Dr. Deirdre Madden, and Ailish Ní Riain – have been identified by anti-abortion groups in the country as having previously indicated that they favour legalizing abortion or reducing restrictions on it. [Life Institute 16 Jan 2012, 20 Jan 2012]