ECHR rules against Ireland in abortion case

The European Court of Human Rights today ruled as that the restriction on abortion in the Republic of Ireland is a violation of women’s rights.

Three anonymous women, who were represented by the Irish Family Planning Association, took Ireland to court, saying they believed that forcing them to go abroad for an abortion endangered their health.

One of the women fell pregnant during chemotherapy, another was an alcoholic whose other children had been taken into care, while the third feared they could have an ectopic pregnancy – one where the child develops outside the womb.

The three women (two of them Irish, one of them Lithuanian) first lodged their case in 2005, but it was only seen this year.

The ECHR ruled for the first of these women, as she feared her cancer would relapse, but not for the other two.