Alliance for Choice Calls for Immediate Resolution of "D" Case

At a rally in Dublin today, pro-choice groups called for the immediate resolution of the "D" case. This young woman has been subjected to the stress and anxiety of court appearances and legal arguments at a time when she should have been supported by the HSE and state, not further traumatized. It is truly outrageous that this vulnerable young woman should have been forced to ask the courts for the right to terminate a pregnancy that can, at best, result in the birth of a child with no possibility of life.

The HSE must retract their callous approach to D's tragic case and facilitate her choice for a termination. She cannot afford any further delay and the Irish people will not thank the HSE or the government for again brutalising a young woman in their name.

Following on from the X and C cases in the 1990s, legislation dealing with the issue of abortion was promised, but even after the people rejected the Government's 2002 attempt to roll back the X judgement even that minimal protection has not been underpinned by law. WHile the near total ban on abortion in Ireland does not prevent most women from seeking abortions, it does result in increased delay, expense, unnecessary hardship and stigma for those women who face particular barriers to accessing services abroad, such as women living in poverty, young women, migrant and asylum-seeking women, and all those in the direct care or control of the State.