It was bound to happen eventually and now, a poor 17-year-old pregnant Irish girl is having to be subjected to court because she wants an abortion in Britain
Th 17 year old has had to come this far up the legal staircase to be allowed to travel to mainland Britain so she can have an abortion. The case has gone to the High Court in Dublin this week. Yet this is not just a young girl who has got herself into trouble by accident and wishes for a quick way out. This, in fact is far from the truth. She is still having to go through the legal barriers of the anti abortion country she lives in as doctors have confirmed to her that the baby will not live for more than a few days after it is born, should she go full term.
In a medical battle there should be no argument over what is moral and whats is not, yet in Ireland, there is.
The girl, as she is now, is four months pregnant and still finds herself fighting against the system even though there is a health issue here. Despite the confirmation of the baby's poor health, the Irish health care system will NOT let her fly to the mainland for a termination. In a situation that has become so extreme, the Health service in her country has even issued a court order to stop her leaving Ireland.
This has become one of the most controversial cases in the abortion row since anti abortion rallies in the country in recent years. The girl's lawyer, Eoghan Fitzsimons, has stated the one point to fight with and that is that the Health authority have actually not right to stop her leaving the country.
It is a battle not on moral grounds but on the welfare of the young girl. Fitzsimons has argued in court on her behalf that it is a cruel and an 'inhumane' idea to allow the baby to continue to grow, only to be born, to die.
In Ireland, terminations that are not on the grounds of a life threatening condition to the mother, are illegal, whereas, in the UK, abortions have been legal since an Act passed in 1967. The case here of the girl is certainly not life threatening, although for the baby, death after birth is almost certain as the child is has been confirmed to have a large part of it's skill and brain missing.
As thousands of Irish women travel to the mainland every year to have abortions, they skip over the ban by not getting the health care system in their own country involved.
The 17 year old girl, who is said to be 'deeply distressed' by the whole ordeal, has found the ban on her travelling to Britain to be 'degrading.'
The girl had no family to support her, yet since the case has come to light, the girl's natural mother has stood up in defence of her daughter.
The girl, known as Miss D has shown incredible strength to fight this as far as the High Court even though there appears to be little chance of her receiving her wish. She has also found support in her boyfriend and her mother, yet, if the girl had shown tendencies of 'suicide' then that would have been a different matter, and the termination would have gone ahead without a problem. However, she has shown sensibility, maturity and courage, yet that seems to be wrong? Surely what is wrong here is a dated system that needs to be torn apart and started again.
Two Pro-choice groups; Choice Ireland and Alliance for Choice, have come to the immediate aid of the girl and have picketed outside the court in massive support.
A spokeswoman for the groups said,
"No woman should have to endure the trauma of carrying to full term a child who will not live more than a few hours. Miss D is another case of several that have gone before and will come again that highlight the flaws in Irish abortion law. Without legislation to deal with this issue, yet more Irish women in difficult situations will have to be dragged through the courts."
The case has been decided to be pushed through the system quickly as time runs out for the girl to have a termination before then too, putting her own health in danger...
