Samuel Riggs | Editor
TCDSU and a contingent of Trinity students are set to join a protest in support of abortion rights this evening. The protest, organised by Choice Ireland and AIMS Ireland, is in direct response to the news of a caesarean section being performed on a young woman who was deemed suicidal by the HSE.
The woman, an 18 year old who cannot be named for legal reasons, emigrated to Ireland earlier this year. It is understood that she became pregnant after being raped in her home country. She learned several weeks after her arrival – eight weeks into her pregnancy – that she was pregnant. During the process of attempting to gain a legal abortion on the grounds of suicide risk, the foetus was deemed viable by the HSE. Going on a hunger and fluid strike, the HSE sought and was granted a ruling from the High Court to force feed the woman, and her baby was recently delivered by caesarean section 25 weeks into the pregnancy.
Both Choice Ireland and AIMS Ireland are pushing for the government to hold a referendum to remove the increasingly controversial eighth amendment of the Irish Constitution, which introduced a clause that gave the “right to life of the unborn” equal status to that of the mother. Legally, the amendment created a total ban on abortion until the Supreme Court’s X Case decision in 1983, which established the right of a woman to an abortion if her life was at risk, including in cases of suicide risk. However, the X Case decision was not legislated for until the passing of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act last year.
The recent case is understood to be one of the first cases under the act. Despite a panel of three psychiatrists deeming the mother’s life to be at risk due to suicidal thoughts, a consultant obstetrician deemed the foetus viable because of the stage of the pregnancy. After initially protesting, the woman agreed to have the baby delivered.
Speaking to The University Times, Choice Ireland said: “We are holding this demonstration in protest at the current treatment of women in Ireland. As it stands, women have absolutely no choice about how or when they give birth. We feel this has to stop, and women have to be given choice over their own bodies, both at the time of birth, and in their day-to-day lives. We are protesting for the government to revoke the 8th Amendment.”
Last year, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union passed a referendum with a 73 per cent margin to campaign for abortion rights on request of the woman.
Claire Donlon, leader of the ‘Yes’ campaign, said that this case “typifies how the Irish State continues to fail spectacularly to those most in need. Every time abortion is brought to public attention, it is for the worst possible reasons. The X, A, B and C cases, Savita and this women – these are all the most vulnerable members of our society, and we have failed every single one of them. Until the 8th amendment is struck from the constitution, this will keep happening.”
