The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Ireland’s abortion law is in breach of international human rights. The court found that the human rights of one applicant had been violated as the uncertainty around terminating a pregnancy constituted a ‘significant chilling factor for women and doctors as they both ran a risk of serious criminal conviction and imprisonment’.
Britain’s leading independent sexual and reproductive healthcare organisation, Marie Stopes International, is welcoming this judgement as a very important first step toward providing women in Ireland with clarity over their right to choose whether or not to continue with a pregnancy.
Tracey McNeill, Vice President and Director of UK and Western Europe at the Marie Stopes International charity said:
“This is a landmark ruling and an important first step to ensuring that women have access to safe abortion services in Ireland. The Court highlighted that the law needs to be changed to ensure that doctors feel confident that they won’t face prosecution for providing abortions if the woman’s life is considered to be at risk. What we would like to see in the future, is Irish women having the same fundamental rights to choose as people in the rest of Europe.”
The ruling comes as Marie Stopes International reveals today that 2,724 Irish women have faced the emotional and financial stress of having to travel to England to access abortions at its clinics in the past 12 months. This represented about 65% of women that have been forced to travel to Britain from the Irish Republic in the past year.
McNeil continued: “We commend the bravery of the three women that have taken this long battle to the European Court. Each faced a distressing ordeal in order to access an abortion and they highlight that even in some of the most difficult circumstances, women are denied access to abortions in Ireland. Marie Stopes International is committed to doing all that we can to support such women.”
Our Manchester clinic is one of the busiest in the country for treating women that have made the journey from Ireland.
Yesterday, all the women that had undertaken the 16 hour return journey from Ireland said they believed a change in the law in Ireland was long overdue:
“It is a very hard day today, to go through something like this away from my home is very difficult,” 23 year old Sarah (not her real name) said.
“The Irish government doesn’t take the needs of women into consideration. I hope this legal case will lead to a change in law. Women should have treatment in Ireland. We are facing redundancies, none of our jobs are secure and having to travel abroad for healthcare is adding to this financial pressure,” 20 year old student Mary (not her real name) said.
“I have no choice, I’ve have three children already and we can’t afford another child,” Jane (not her real name) said. The 32 year old mother had left home at 6am with her husband who had recently been made redundant from his job.
“It’s a disgrace that I can’t be seen in Ireland. The stress of the journey has been very hard and something women should not have to endure. I don’t have a penny and this will have a long-term impact on my finances.” Mother of one, Joanna said she had to borrow money from her family to pay for her treatment and travel.
Irish women face a bill of between £500 and £1,300 to travel abroad for the procedure. Increasingly, Irish women are resorting to importing medical abortion pills illegally and are having the medical abortion procedure in an unsupervised and unregulated environment, without the counselling supports and post abortion medical care provided in complete care packages provided to women in other European countries.
A survey of 1,002 adults undertaken by Reproductive Choices late last year revealed that support for abortion was high in Ireland, particularly if there was a risk to the health of the woman or child or if a woman had experienced a sexual assault. Two in five (41%) people said they agreed that abortion should be permitted if a woman believes it is in her or her family’s best interest. Just 35% of people disagreed with this statement and only 3% opposed abortion in all circumstances.
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Notes to Editors
Currently there are also restrictions on providing information on unplanned pregnancy services in Ireland. It is currently illegal to proactively provide information to GPs, nurses or women about all unplanned pregnancy options.
The Case
For the Ruling visit: www.echr.coe.int
Three women lodged a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights in August 2005, contending that the Republic of Ireland breached their human rights under Articles 2 (Right to Life), 3 (Prohibition of Torture), 8 (Right to Respect for Family and Private Life) and 14 (Prohibition of Discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights. For more information see the ECHR Statement of Fact.
The Law
Having an abortion is currently a criminal offence in Ireland except for when there is a substantial risk to a woman’s life. Abortion was prohibited under criminal law in section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. Rights of the unborn child were enshrined in law in the 1983 amendments to Article 8 of Ireland’s constitution.
Survey
All survey figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc undertaken for Reproductive Choices. Total sample size was 1002 adults in Ireland. Fieldwork was undertaken between 3rd - 8th December 2009. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all adults from Ireland (aged 18+).
Marie Stopes International
Marie Stopes International is Britain’s leading independent sexual and reproductive health provider, delivering services to more than 100,000 clients across nine centres each year. We are an outcomes-driven health service provider, delivering high quality care and clinical excellence. Marie Stopes International is a not-for-profit organisation providing contraception, abortion, vasectomy, female sterilisation, STI testing and treatment and health screening. Globally, Marie Stopes International delivers family planning and sexual healthcare to more than six million people in 44 countries annually. For more information visit www.mariestopes.org.uk