High Court rules abortion ban in Northern Ireland violates human rights
Northern Ireland鈥檚 sweeping ban against abortion is a violation of human rights, Belfast鈥檚 High Court found in a ruling Monday.
Currently, abortion is only permitted in Northern Ireland when the mother鈥檚 life is in danger. But Judge Mark Horner upheld a challenge Monday by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, ruling that certain abortion prohibitions violate provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. Such provisions permit abortion in cases of rape, incest, and fatal fetal abnormalities.
鈥淚nternational human rights laws dictate that at a minimum, an abortion is acceptable when the physical or mental health of the mother is at risk, the pregnancy is a form of rape or incest, or the health of the fetus is in question,鈥� Tarah Demant, senior director of the Identity and Discrimination Unit at Amnesty International, tells 海角大神 in a phone interview.聽
鈥淚reland is a party [of the Convention] so this ruling found that these laws [in Ireland] were in breach of the country鈥檚 international obligations.鈥澛�
European Community law 鈥渋s gradually taking precedence over national law and chipping away at differences among the EC鈥檚 member states,鈥� the Monitor鈥檚 Howard LaFranchi reported. Disagreement between Irish state law and international standards dates back over two decades, when a 14-year-old Irish girl, who became pregnant after being raped, was barred from traveling to Britain for an abortion聽by a Dublin High Court 聽in 1992.聽
The Pew Research Center suggests travel across the sea to Britain each year to receive abortions, as abortion legislation is far more lenient in the rest of the United Kingdom. 聽聽
鈥淲e are concerned that some of the judgment could lead to here,鈥� said Bernadette Smyth, the director of the Precious Life group, in an interview with BBC News.
But Judge Horner makes it clear he is not arguing for an all out validation of abortion in Northern Ireland.
鈥淭here is except in certain carefully defined and limited circumstances. The Commission has made it clear that it does not seek to establish such a general right,鈥� Horner wrote in his ruling. 鈥淭his application is about whether the failure to provide certain limited exceptions to the ban on abortion in Northern Ireland 鈥� is in compliance with the rights enjoyed by all the citizens of Northern Ireland under the European Convention on Human Rights.鈥�
Rather than reassure abortion advocates in Ireland, the recent ruling only seeks to fulfill Northern Ireland鈥檚 basic requirements under international law. 鈥淭his ruling rules that Ireland has not been in line, and it must be in line,鈥� Demant explains.
Ultimately, this ruling indicates that the Northern Ireland Assembly must change the abortion law to conform to EU standards. Meanwhile, anti-abortion organizations are urging the Attorney General to repeal the court ruling altogether.
鈥淭he Right to Life is , but it is their duty to protect it,鈥� Ms. Smyth writes in a press release Monday. 鈥淲e cannot and will not accept a ruling that is so morally wrong in denying the fundamental rights of the most vulnerable human beings in society.鈥�
