IRELAND-ABORTION/AMNESTY Amnesty International stirs up abortion debate in Ireland

Record ID: 150617

  • Title: IRELAND-ABORTION/AMNESTY Amnesty International stirs up abortion debate in Ireland
  • Date: 9th June 2015
  • Summary: DUBLIN, IRELAND (JUNE 7, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHURCH SERVICE
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ireland
  • Country: Ireland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEDDIJ9SREM8EAR769EP0XCRSR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Irish government should heed the shifting of opinion demonstrated by the people's backing of gay marriage, by easing restrictions on abortion, the head of Amnesty International said on Tuesday (June 9).
    Ireland voted to allow gay marriage last month in a referendum that signaled a major change in attitudes in what was once a strongly Catholic and socially conservative society.
    But its abortion laws remain among the most restrictive in the world and a complete ban was only lifted in 2013, since when terminations are allowed if the mother's life is in danger.
    "The human cost of the current restrictive abortion laws in the country is far too high. It leads to huge suffering of women, trauma, stigma and stress for women, girls and their families and friends. The consequence of which is that up to 4,000 women at a minimum are traveling out of the country every year. So Ireland is effectively outsourcing its human rights obligations," Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty told Reuters.
    "The timing is right. On some of the taboo issues which Ireland historically has been more conservative on, public opinion is really shifting and it's important for the leaders to do the right thing," added Salil Shetty.
    Human rights group Amnesty says Ireland's constitution and abortion laws violate the fundamental human rights of women and girls, including their right to life, health, equality, privacy and freedom from torture.
    The system treats women as "child-bearing vessels", rather than individuals, the London-based group said in a report on Ireland's abortion law.
    The death of a woman in 2012, when doctors refused to abort her dying foetus, forced the government to change the law, provoking protest from both sides. Prime Minister Enda Kenny was sent letters written in blood for bringing in the legislation.
    Amnesty said the new laws were unclear and the threat of prosecution for doctors still forces pregnant women to wait until their condition deteriorates to justify a medical intervention, with potentially devastating consequences.
    Husband and wife Gerry and Gay Edwards have suffered their own pain. In 2001, Gerry and Gay's unborn son was diagnosed with anencephaly, a fatal abnormality where the skull is missing from above the eyebrows. In Ireland, the law then and now criminalises abortion in cases of fatal foetal impairment. They were forced to leave the country to fulfill their wish to induce the labour.
    "It was utterly devastating. Because as well as having to make all the arrangements we were dealing with, the grief kicks in straight away. So we were dealing with that as well and the grief was compounded by the fact that we were operating in secrecy," said Gay Edwards.
    Their son's cremated remains were delivered to their county Wicklow home in an envelope. But Gay believes Ireland is now ready to change the law.
    "I think the Irish public are ready for this. They may not have been 10, 15, 20 years ago, they are now, they understand a total ban is not workable," said Gay, her husband also agrees.
    "Nothing can be done now to change what happened to us. We can never had a funeral, we weren't able to bring our boy home so we have cremated remains in a jiffy envelope that was delivered by courier with a royal mail postage stamp. But the law can be changed so that people who get this diagnosis in the future don't have to endure this, that the worst news they will get is that their baby won't live, they simply shouldn't have to endure anything beyond that."
    But Reuters discovered public opinion on the issue is mixed.
    "My thoughts on the abortion laws in Ireland are that I hope it never comes here. In my opinion if you take another person's life it is murder, there is no debate about it, " said Dublin resident Rosemary Hughes.
    Vicki Mcgrath disagreed with those sentiments.
    "I think it's totally outdated. You know we kind of changed history last month with the whole equality marriage referendum and I definitely think the next on the agenda is the abortion issue. I think if people had that choice or made that choice they should be able to do it on their home soil instead of having to go over to England or mainland Europe to carry out such a personal and emotional time in their life."
    The U.N. Human Rights Committee last year said Ireland should revise its abortion laws to provide for additional exceptions in cases of rape, incest, serious risks to the health of the mother, or fatal foetal abnormality.
    But one human rights campaigner thinks changing the laws around abortions is 'inappropriate'.
    "The ultimate human rights abuse is to lose your life and that's what happens in every abortion. A human life is lost, is deliberately ended. It is inappropriate and it is completely wrong for Amnesty Ireland to be campaigning for the ending of human rights."
    The government has said it would need to hold a referendum to further amend the law and has ruled out holding one before elections early next year.
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