Rally in Response to the ‘Miss D’ Case

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Wednesday May 02, 2007 16:48 by M - Choice Ireland

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.