The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) also objected to “fatal foetal impairments” being used as a specific ground for abortion as “often it cannot be said if an impairment is fatal” on the grounds that “experience shows that assessments on impairment conditions are often false”. They added that, even if the diagnosis of a life-limiting condition is correct, the label “perpetuates notions of stereotyping disability as incompatible with a good life”.
This latest submission from the disability committee was warmly welcomed by the support group Every Life Counts. Spokesperson, Tanya Coonan, said that parents were very pleased that the UN Committee rejected the ‘incompatible with life’ label which she said was used to dehumanise and discriminate against babies with a severe disability. Moreover, she said, “By citing the already existing and widely ratified Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities the CRPD makes a powerful case that abortion on disability grounds are a grave breach of human rights”. The Pro Life Campaign said the disability committee’s views were “welcome news” and helped draw attention to “huge” numbers of abortions taking place on disability grounds.
“That’s why in countries like England, over 90 per cent of babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are now aborted and the UN Human Rights Committee, along with some other international bodies, is standing by and letting this happen without any criticism that would make a worthwhile difference,” said spokeswoman Cora Sherlock.
Parents of babies aborted for suffering from what they term “fatal-foetal abnormalities” yesterday called for the availability of abortion up until birth for babies showing signs of severe impairments. The reason they gave for the late availability of abortion would be to cover circumstances where the diagnosis was made late into the pregnancy. Gerry Edwards, spokesperson for Terminations for Medical Reasons, said he believed no gestational limit should be enforced in cases of so called “fatal foetal abnormalities” as, he said, it would be completely inappropriate. If such a limit were put in place, it could force parents to make decisions more hastily than they should, he added, insisting time is necessary for individuals to think about what they should do.
Ireland’s restrictive abortion regime is damaging the mental health of all Irish citizens, not just women enduring crisis pregnancies, the Oireachtas abortion Committee heard yesterday. Consultant psychiatrist and professor of clinical psychiatry Veronica O’Keane said the pro-life Amendment to the Constitution had a negative affect on the mental health of pregnant women who were already at high risk of depression. “I would go further and say that the mental health of every person in Ireland is being damaged by the Eighth Amendment…We are all shamed by the current situation,” she said. Professor Patricia Casey was also scheduled to speak to the Committee yesterday on the same topic, but pulled out as she said the process was a sham and she did not want her appearance to be exploited to give a veneer of legitimacy to the proceedings.
The UK Supreme Court has been told that Northern Ireland’s pro-life law is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as it discriminates against women, breaches their personal autonomy and amounts to a form of torture. This is despite the fact that the ECHR makes no mention of abortion.
The case is being brought by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), represented by Nathalie Lieven QC, who argued that the abortion law discriminates against women and girls on the grounds of their sex and was an unjustified breach of their right to personal autonomy. She said it was also in breach of Article 3 of the ECHR, which forbids torture and “inhuman or degrading” treatment or punishment. She said the law criminalises “exceptionally vulnerable” women and girls, causing “trauma and humiliation” at the moment of their greatest vulnerability. “The impact of the criminal law in Northern Ireland does amount to inhuman and degrading treatment by the state,” she said. Britain’s 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland, where abortion is illegal except where a woman’s life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious danger to her mental or physical health.
The Oireachtas committee examining the Eighth Amendment is to be told of the legal difficulties in allowing abortion in the cases of rape. Tom O’Malley, a senior lecturer in law at National University of Ireland, will tell the committee that the difficulty lies in deciding what is required for an allegation of rape to be accepted as such, adding that consideration would have to be given to the kind and level of proof that would be needed.
At one extreme, nothing less than a conviction by a criminal court would suffice and at the other extreme, a simple assertion by the woman that she had been a victim would be sufficient, he adds.
The Committee will also hear from a group called “Terminations for Medical Reasons”, a group of parents who have been affected by pregnancies where the baby in the womb was diagnosed with a foetal impairment. Describing themselves as feeling like “medical refugees” they will recount their difficulties in bringing home the remains of their babies in make-shift coffins.
Pupils who opt-out of religion in community and comprehensive secondary schools must be given “a proper timetable of beneficial work” under new rules from the Department of Education. Previously, children often sat in the class during religious instruction and some schools stopped them studying other subjects, wearing headphones or completing schoolwork. Some schools run by Tipperary Education and Training Board, for example, stated that such children should not have access to other classes, as it would give them an “unfair advantage”. The new rules, which have not yet been released, are likely to insist that children be provided with access to meaningful education or a time-tabled class on another subject on the curriculum, according to officials at the Department who spoke to the Irish Times. [2] Some school administrators, privately, say that numbers opting out of religion could climb dramatically if students have access to extra classes for exam subjects.
Sean Ó Foglú, in a speech last year to the Association of Trustees of Catholic Schools, said schools needed to prepare for situations where “a majority of students may wish to withdraw and where religious instruction and worship may be required by a minority, if at all”.
By the end of the year Northern Irish women will have the right to access free abortion services in England, and a central telephone booking system will be set up for women to arrange their abortion appointment. Furthermore, those on incomes of less than £15,276 or receiving income support will now also get their travel and accommodation paid. The plans were detailed by Justine Greening, the UK equalities minister, who had said in June that it was an injustice that women from Northern Ireland had to pay for abortions in England when their Anglo, Scottish and Welsh counterparts had them free via the NHS. The move was welcomed by Labour MP Stella Creasy who said women in Northern Ireland were being denied a basic human right and the new scheme was a step forward. “Today we also pledge to keep standing with them until they have equal access to abortion services in Northern Ireland itself,” she said. “Our sisters need to have their human rights to be upheld and we won’t give up until they have so.”
On Tuesday, the UK’s supreme court will hear a case to overturn the restrictions on abortions in Northern Ireland on the grounds that the laws breach human rights.
Health Minister Simon Harris has said the State will fund abortions in public hospitals if the Eighth amendment is repealed and a law introduced that treats abortion as a health service available on request. “I believe if the people make a decision about a health service, it should be available in the public service,” he said.
He also indicated that he also expects Catholic and other religious hospitals to routinely provide abortions should they become a legally available “health service” under any new law. He said he did not believe that religious ethos would see some hospitals opting out, and pointed to the experience of the operation of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act is that publicly funded facilities operate under the law of the land.
