Wednesday 2 May 2007

Rally in Response to the ‘Miss D’ Case

Choice Ireland are calling a rally in support of ‘Miss D’ and to highlight the disgraceful situation our government has yet again caused.

Saturday May 5th @ 12pm at the G.P.O
It is now over 15 years since the X case ruling and successive Irish governments have failed to introduce abortion legislation that clears the muddied waters surrounding Irish women’s right to travel for an abortion. By failing to legislate for cases similar to that of “C” and “X” the Irish government are inflicting unnecessary trauma on women who are already in incredibly stressful situations.

Yet another harrowing case of a woman seeking to overturn an order preventing her from travelling for an abortion has come before the courts. Miss “D”, a 17 year old in the care of the HSE is four months pregnant with a child who has been diagnosed with anencephaly. The prognosis for individuals with anencephaly is extremely poor. If the infant is not still-born then he or she will usually die within a few hours or days after birth (Thompson et al., 1994). No
woman should have to endure the trauma of carrying to full term a child who will not live more than a few hours. By preventing “Miss D” from travelling the Irish government are defining women by their status as a uterine incubator rather than individuals entitled to basic human rights.

“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. Not all of the women who make the difficult decision to have an abortion come to the attention of the courts and the media. Every year over 6,000 women travel to England and further a field to seek a termination. Choice Ireland are today calling for no more “X” or “D” cases, for the repeal of the 8th amendment and for free safe and legal abortion to be made available in Ireland.

The Rally will be addressed by speakers from Doctors for Choice, Choice Ireland and Alliance for Choice.

1 comment:

MiaCua Madib said...

I am horrified at the Miss D case. I can not attend your rally from America but I have sent a message to the Irish Health service [supposedly] in charge of the young womans care, begging them to reconsider their stance in perspective of her future emotional health. As an Irish descendent & woman that once suffered from the lack of societal compassion, towards me the mother, when I chose to not abort but keep my pregnancy, which led to a miserable strifeful life because of the lack of support, not because of my son, I can only hope that society can come to care as much for the existing humans, the mother & the father, as some laws claim they do for a non born, won't be able to exist, foetus.
Georgia Gilliam, USA