Suicidal Rape Victim Denied Abortion in Ireland

[niyad]

(let us remember that ireland is the location of the horrors of the magdalen laundries)


Suicidal Rape Victim Denied Abortion in Ireland

A suicidal young woman who became pregnant as a result of rape was refused an abortion in Ireland.

The woman, now 18, was raped as a minor. When she discovered she was pregnant at eight weeks, she became suicidal and immediately tried to obtain an abortion under a clause in the new Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. She could not bypass the law by going to England or another European country to obtain an abortion - like thousands of Irish women do each year - because she is not an Irish citizen.

In this case, two psychiatrists determined the young woman was suicidal and should have access to the procedure, but the obstetrician on the panel declared that the fetus was viable and should be delivered. After the panel's examination, the woman had to wait 17 full weeks to hear back about the outcome. She believes the government purposely delayed her case until the fetus was viable. When her request for an abortion was ultimately rejected, she started a hunger and water strike in protest but stopped when authorities threatened to put her on forced hydration. She then agreed to have a premature caesarean section at 25 weeks. The baby is expected to go into state care.

This case "illustrates quite clearly that women are treated as little more than incubators under Irish law," Sarah McCarthy, a spokesperson for Galway Pro-Choice, told The Guardian.

The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act legalized abortions in cases only where there is a risk to the life of the mother, including thoughts of suicide. It was approved in July 2013 by Parliament after the 2012 death of Savita Halappanavar, a woman who died from an infection because she was not allowed to have an abortion, and the ensuing uproar over her death. It recently went into effect in January. Under the law, a panel of three doctors must examine each case and agree unanimously to allow a woman to have the procedure. While the Act is thought to be a step forward, Ireland's laws around abortion are still severely restrictive. Abortions are not allowed in any cases besides life endangerment, including cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormality, or if the fetus is not expected to survive outside of the womb.


http://www.msmagazine.com/news/uswirestory.asp?ID=15149

[theHandpuppet]

1. Dear Ireland: Time to join the 21st Century

Free yourselves from the theocracy!

[niyad]

2. I wish this country's woman-hating reichwingnuts would do the same.

[theHandpuppet]

3. Absolutely!

How long do we have to fight these woman-hating bullies?

[theHandpuppet]

4. The Irish abortion question has always been linked to class, secrecy and moral judgment

The Irish Times
August 23, 2014
The Irish abortion question has always been linked to class, secrecy and moral judgment
Opinion: ‘A contributor to The Bell in 1941 suggested women from well-off backgrounds were hustled off, normally to London, Paris, Biarritz, come back without the baby, and nobody is any the wiser’

Understandably, given recent and ongoing controversies over the Irish abortion question, much has been made of the figure of 150,000 women who have travelled to Britain for abortions since the 1983 referendum resulted in the insertion of the eighth amendment into the Irish Constitution. The Irish abortion issue, however, has a much longer history than that covered by the last 30 years.

Even when abortion was illegal in Britain, before 1967, Irish women made the trip, as they did to other European cities. A contributor to Seán Ó Faoláin’s The Bell magazine in 1941 suggested some young women from well-off backgrounds were “hustled off, normally to London, Paris, Biarritz, come back without the baby, and nobody is any the wiser”.

In a country where there was such a stigma around illegitimacy, this is hardly surprising, nor is the frequency with which less-well-off women opted for infanticide. The Irish abortion question has always been linked to class, secrecy and moral judgment.

Felony
Some performing abortions in the early decades of this State’s existence were prosecuted; under section 58 of the 1861 Offences Against the Persons Act, a person who “unlawfully” procured the miscarriage of a woman was considered to have committed a felony. Judges in some cases reminded the all-male juries they were required to separate legal fact from morality; that the court in which an abortion case was heard was not a court of morals. In his summing up of one case in 1945, however, one judge added, “perhaps one often wishes that it were”. It was a revealing admission, but even though women who had undergone illegal abortions were often the main witnesses for the State and could be subjected to demeaning character attacks by those defending those charged with performing these operations, their stories generally remained hidden from view. It was those who had performed abortions who were more likely to be remembered....

MORE at http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/the-irish-abortion-question-has-always-been-linked-to-class-secrecy-and-moral-judgment-1.1905362

[theHandpuppet]

5. Terms of inquiry set into care of woman in abortion case

The Irish Times
Friday, August 22, 2014
Terms of inquiry set into care of woman in abortion case
Four-person team appointed to report on care given to ‘Ms Y’

A four-person team has been appointed by the HSE to report on the care given to the young woman who says she was raped, denied an abortion and later had her pregnancy delivered by Caesarean section.

The terms of reference for the inquiry were published by at about 9pm...

...They are tasked with establishing the fact of this case – the chronology, the agencies and personnel the young woman – who is being named ‘Ms Y’ in this inquiry - came into contact with during the 17 to 18 weeks of her pregnancy in the State.

The terms of reference said the team would also “examine and document the chain of communication between different service providers including referrals between services and the flow of information related to Miss Y both internally in the HSE and externally. “In the event that any failings in service delivery are identified, the report is to identify the causes and contributory factors,” the HSE said....

MORE at http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/terms-of-inquiry-set-into-care-of-woman-in-abortion-case-1.1905586

[niyad]

6. gee, why are we not impressed? this woman was forced to give birth to a child

conceived through rape, and they are going to "inquire" if there was a problem.