A second challenge to Ireland’s abortion law has been filed with the UN’s Human Rights Committee by The Center for Reproductive Rights, an advocacy group that favours abortion-on-demand. The Center is making the case on behalf of Siobhan Whelan, who travelled to the UK for an abortion when she discovered that her baby had a life-shortening condition.
In a press release, the Center for Reproductive Rights claimed that Ms Whelan had been subjected to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”, had suffered a violation of her privacy, and had been discriminated against because of her gender.
Irish law currently allows for a termination of pregnancy when a woman’s life is in danger. This includes by threat of suicide.
It would require a constitutional amendment to permit women to have an abortion here where the unborn child had a life-shortening condition.
Johanna Westeson, regional director for Europe at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said “The United Nations Human Rights Committee should act swiftly and call on Ireland to expand women’s access to essential abortion care as mandated under human rights law.”
A “right to abortion” has never been found in any UN document or declaration.
The Center for Reproductive Rights has another similar case before the UN committee, again involving a woman who travelled to Britain to abort a child with a life-limiting condition.
Meanwhile, the pro-life support group One Day More have been campaigning for more and better perinatal hospice care in Ireland, which they say “aims to make the best of the time available to parent and baby in a supportive and practical way.”
