The figures aren’t in yet for 2010, but in 2009 we welcomed a whole heap of little girls to Ireland. Sophie, Ava, Emma, Sarah, Grace, Emily, Katie, Lucy, Aoife and Chloe – welcome! You are the proud owners of the top 10 girls’ names in the State.
They are beautiful names. We hope you get to keep them.
We hope you get to grow up in a State that vindicates your human rights, Sophie. We hope you keep your good name, Ava. We hope your name is respected, Emma. We hope that it isn’t taken from you, Grace, as we manhandle you, small and scared and 14, through a legal system that strips you of your privacy and dignity. A system that replaces your beautiful name with a single letter.
The European Court of Human Rights
In 1992 we took another 14-year-old girl’s name from her and replaced it with a single letter, X. She had a beautiful name too. She had been raped. She had been made pregnant. She had decided to terminate her unwanted pregnancy.
She couldn’t do it here, of course. We have no truck with girls with letters for names whose experiences cause us to shudder. We are not comfortable with such discomfort. It is not for us.
X went to England.
Her parents supported her decision, but we did not. The Attorney General, who upholds the laws of our land, sought and got an order from the High Court stopping the nameless Ms X from leaving Ireland for nine months. She came back from England with her mum and her dad to contest the order. More time passed. We piled more pressure on the head of the 14-year-old we had stripped of a name. She had been raped. We had no shame.
She could take no more, the nameless 14-year-old. She wanted it all to stop. She was suicidal.
On appeal, the Supreme Court ruled that “if it is established that there is a real and substantial risk to the life, as distinct from the health, of the mother, which can only be avoided by the termination of her pregnancy, such termination is permissible”.
She remains Ms X to this day, but she is part of a chain of amazing women with letters for their names whose bravery and dignity will make a difference.
In 1997, we supplied another link in the chain of suffering. Another 13-year-old girl was raped and impregnated. She was in the care of the Eastern Health Board. She was in the care of the State. She was all our responsibility. She had no need for a name, so we called her C.
The EHB goes to the District Court to apply to take C abroad for an abortion. C’s parents challenge these orders in the High Court. The High Court rules that as C is liable to take her own life if forced to continue with the pregnancy, she is entitled to an abortion in Ireland by virtue of the Supreme Court judgment in the 1992 X case.
C still has to go to England.
Five years later, in 2002 Irish voters reject the Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy) Bill, 2002, which would have removed the threat of suicide as a ground for abortion and increased the penalties for helping a woman to have an abortion.
In 2006, another Irish woman loses her name.
Pregnant with twins, one of whom has died in her womb, the other with fatal fetal abnormalities, she has to travel to England to have a termination. Her name is now D.
She has been forced to leave her country to go to England. Now she must travel further, this Irish woman with no name, to whom the saddest thing has happened.
She tells the European Court of Human Rights that Ireland’s ban on abortion in the case of fatal fetal abnormalities violates Articles 1, 3, 8, 20, 13 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Irish Government argues that the woman should have applied to the Irish courts to have an abortion. She could have been legally entitled to an abortion in Ireland, they argue. They don’t say where in Ireland. Europe agrees that domestic legal remedies had not been exhausted.
The alphabet is being exhausted too – the alphabet we use to protect ourselves from looking into the eyes of the real girls and women we are hurting.
In 2007 a 17-year-old woman in the care of the State finds herself with an anencaphelic pregnancy. HSE social workers challenge the right of a second Miss D to travel to England for a termination. Let her go, the High Court says. Miss D has a right to travel abroad for an abortion.
Two years before D was put in this position that thumped us in the solar plexus of our national shame, three more women were dealing with their own challenges and tragedies. It was back to the beginning of the alphabet.
And so we come to this Thursday, December 16th, 2010, when the European Court of Human Rights will issue a ruling on whether Ireland’s restrictions on abortion violate women’s human rights.
Since 1980 more than 143,479 women and girls have left Ireland to have an abortion abroad. The figure is not final – it rises every day. We have exhausted tens of thousands of alphabets. Now we have three more letters – A, B, and C. Three more women whose bravery, whose resilience, whose selflessness has carried us to the door of another decision on Ireland’s stance on abortion.
Listen to their stories, because every woman has a story. She is not a letter, not a statistic, not a footnote.
On Thursday the ECHR will rule whether the cases of A, B and C involved a transgression of their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Applicant A was living in poverty. She was getting her life together after facing personal problems and was hopeful of being reunited with her four children, who were in care. She got pregnant. It was not planned. Another child was not what she wanted. It was the wrong time and might damage her chances of getting her existing family back together. She went to England for an abortion.
Applicant B had taken emergency contraception after unprotected sex. It didn’t work and she was told she also could be at risk of an ectopic pregnancy. She didn’t want to go ahead with the pregnancy at this time or run the risks associated with an ectopic pregnancy. She travelled to England and had an abortion.
Applicant C had battled cancer for three years. She had become pregnant unintentionally after the cancer had gone into remission, but had undergone a series of tests contra-indicated during pregnancy, while she was unaware that she was pregnant. C had not been able to find a doctor in Ireland who would tell her whether her life would be endangered by the pregnancy or if the foetus would be affected by the tests she had undergone. Given the uncertainty and the risks involved, she travelled to England to have an abortion.
These are the bare bones of these women’s cases. They do not do justice to the women or what they have suffered at the hands of a State that chooses to look the other way, as long as the other way involves a plane or a ferry to somewhere else.
The ECHR must decide whether Ireland has failed to vindicate the human rights of these three women.
If they decide this is the case, then we will no longer have need of the alphabet to save us from ourselves. Sophie, Ava, Emma, Sarah, Grace, Emily, Katie, Lucy, Aoife and Chloe can keep their good names. And we will have grown up.
I am constantly amazed that the Fianna Fáil Government
has done so little in terms of ‘X’ , yet seems so capable
of pushing superfluous legislations here.
I am of course thinking about the Blasphemy amendment
and how it has pushed us down the Press freedom index,
what interests me here is that priorities in a gender-imbalanced govt. only extend to interest groups and lobbies!
The crime and justice approach to rape and incest is as bad
with incredibly low conviction rates, so there is not even
a balance to be had in terms of punishment for sexual crime.
women and girls really do come bottom of the pile in this
so-called modern EU state- ignored, pilloried, mitigated against.
Thank you so much for writing this, Anthea.
This country thinks little of women and even less of children. Female children, therefore, are thought less of than their male counterparts.
A woman I know was in the devastating position, just last year, of carrying a child who had a rare heart condition that was ‘incompatible with life’. She and her husband made the heart-breaking decision to terminate the pregnancy rather than continue with it, and bring a child into the world who would suffer needlessly before dying within the hour.
It was not possible to have the procedure done in Ireland, so they had to go to the UK and add the stress of travelling to another country to all their other stresses.
Let’s hope the ECHR finds in favour of the wronged women you refer to in your piece.
Hazel
Your article is wonderful. I feel I should say more, but I don’t really have the words. Just wanted to say your article is wonderful, well done.
Ditto.
And bravo.
I should have elucidated on Criminal Justice, Abigail Rieley discussed here > http://theantiroom.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/guest-post-justice-for-all/
Re: Children’s Rights , a Committee was formed in 2006 to address this
issue under the Chairmanship of Senator O Rourke O Rourke has
announced that the Referendum wording was set in 2009.
Barry Andrews TD has imo undermined the work , by refusing the Referendum
and bringing that four year work back to the drawing board. I have a letter
from him which clarifies his response to the Comm. which is sent to the
Children’s Right’s Alliance.
We have a legacy of child abuse in Ireland , that is unaddressed, we have
generation passed since ‘X’ and we have a flawed justice system. To me
these things represent the lagacy of Fianna Fáil, Green and PD.
Whilst Mary Harney has gone some way to provision in
SATUs and forensic nurses, this was achieved by lobbying!
The system which seeks to address rape/sexual abuse
and incest in grounded in the 2006 Criminal law (sexual
offences ) Bill , which has a questionable Section 5 and
may require a Constitutional Referendum !
IMO there is no priority, there is no address of equality
in law and in political representation. Others have pointed out
that we will conitnue to accumulate letters such as ‘A’ , ‘C’, ‘X’
because of a legal and justice system that suits a country which
is afraid to address the equality of women and girls in law and their
rights to protection as citizens of this country
Like Karen, I’m somewhat speechless after reading this post. Beautiful, wonderful, moving, powerful.
Much love Anthea x
This has most unexpectedly struck a chord with me. Am welling up at my desk.
At age 8, I expressed an opinion to my parents as we watched the 6 o’clock news. The report was on the X case. The solution seemed so simple to my 8 year old self. “I think she should be allowed to go to England?” My mother asked why I should think that. I answered, “well, she was raped wasn’t she?”. (I don’t actually remember this, but my mother assures me of the facts of the exchange.)
Now, at age 27, I realise that there are many, many shades of grey in each individual case. However, I passionately believe, even though this is not the opinion of some of the other women in my family, nor some of my friends or peers, that it is the right of the woman or girl who will otherwise carry the pregnancy to full term to decide.
I hope so, so much that this legislation can be changed.
Great article Anthea. Thanks.
Julie
This has most unexpectedly struck a chord with me. Am welling up at my desk
Me too! Great article.
I was outside the Four Courts the day that the 2007 Miss D was told she was allowed to travel. It was so upsetting, seeing people there protesting to force a 17-year-old to carry an anencephalic pregnancy to term.
A brilliant article, and one which needs to be read widely. A family member of mie was in a very similar situation to D and the woman known to commenter Hazel. To add to their pain, they were unable to repatriate the remains after the termination (they had planned the pregnancy, but medical issues arose which would have had awful consequences if the pregnancy had been carried to full term.)
Spare a thought, too, for migrant women from outside of the EU. Many must apply for a visa to enter any other country – in the case of asylum seekers, they are not legally permitted to leave the State (it is illegal to do so).
Spare a thought, too, for migrant women from outside of the EU. Many must apply for a visa to enter any other country – in the case of asylum seekers, they are not legally permitted to leave the State (it is illegal to do so).
Yes, totally – that’s one of the points that Choice Ireland makes reasonably frequently. “No abortion on the island of Ireland” doesn’t mean Irish women don’t have abortions: it just means you have to be wealthy enough and privileged enough to be able to travel to Britain. Which many women in Ireland aren’t.
Great piece, thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing your stories. Since 1980 more than 143,479 women have had to leave Ireland to have a abortion abroad. That’s a lot of stories. It is 2010. Time to act like responsible adults and give women in this country jurisdiction over their own bodies.
Fingers crossed for tomorrow’s European Court of Human Rights judgment.
Yes we can.
I’d add to that , Anthea, that the laws and legislations of the
past generation do not take cognisance of the Rights of
the Child .
This includes statutory rape. The failure to legislate can be
balanced against what FF/PD/GN have prioritised.
If our politicians can not face up to reforming the Justice system , then they should not stand up and ask us for a vote.
I see nothing new in the opposition re judicial reform either tbh.
Excellent article. I have personal experience with this subject and am only glad that I was not living in Ireland at the time. That was 30 years ago and it amazes me that we have not moved on with this subject. The right to choose should be fundamental to our way of life. Without that, we are in violation of human rights.
Fantastic piece. Wish more people could put it into perspective as moving and as articulate as this.
This brought me to tears. I am speechless, and deeply saddened by the additional pain these woman had to experience simply for exercising what they felt was best.
[...] to answer. The personal stories are compelling and seem, on their faces, to be unjust (see this Antiroom post). But the Court and the Convention have some strict rules regarding admissibility that may cause [...]
Incredible article. So powerful, moving and so true.
Thank you so much for writing this. And here’s hoping..
Brilliantly written and such a gut-wrenching important/controversial topic. It’s really difficult to explain [or understand] Ireland’s stance on abortion and the repercussions of our ‘no exception’ strands which lead to all kinds of painful hypocrisies. Which is why you get leading Republian politicians – who spent their careers blowing people up – openly stating their anti-abortion predilection, even in the case of incest and rape. More heartbreaking when it’s young women of the alphabet generation that you speak of above. It’s a dialogue of the deaf because we’re still not willing to debate this area, nevermind battle it legally. Judgement in this recent case will be delivered by the President of the European Court of Human Rights tomorrow at 10am. The absence of real choice in Ireland also leads to a rise in sourcing ‘abortion pills’ online. I wrote about this in the Observer last year: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/01/diy-abortion-pills-northern-ireland The fact that women are dying from sourcing bogus medication or taking more than is required in order to deal with a situation they feel they can’t deal with via the normal health channels. Having to drag these young women through complex court processes at such a horrendous stressful time only serves to traumatise them further. Crime reporter Michael O’Toole published an interview with the C-Case girl “years later” on his blog that’s well worth a read: http://irishcrimereporter.blogspot.com/2009/07/he-ruined-my-lifehe-ruined-our-mothers.html
Imagine that women should dare to wish to make decisions for themselves. When I was a student, in the 1980s, it seemed very black-and-white to me: every woman should have the right to choose. 25 years and two children down the line, my attitudes have changed, and they have not. Human life should be cherished, but we cannot claim to cherish it if we persist as a society in dictating to 50% of it, on what so often must be one of the hardest choices they ever have to make. The cruelty of forcing, or attempting to force women continue with non-viable pregnancies is extraordinary. Or rape victims. Or minors. Or pretty well anyone, if you think much about it. Who knows the circumstances of any case, except the woman concerned? This is more of a the legacy of a church that disrespects and devalues women at every turn. How could we know to choose for ourselves? How dare they. I think we still harbour an ambivalent attitude to contraception, and to female sexuality in particular. The 143,479 women are our friends, sisters, daughter, colleagues, and by now, even our mothers. And I know ONE person personally who has had an abortion. ONE. And she didn’t tell me herself. I’m a non-church-going, separated and fairly identifiably liberal woman. I simply don’t believe that can be true, but it’s just not spoken about. What an indictment of Irish society. I hope this decision changes it.
This just breaks my heart.
I’m like Cathy, I know one person who had to travel to the UK. It has affected her life ever since, but she never told me, I figured out from her reactions to things afterwards and from what other friends told me. It’s not for everyone, but the right to choose should be for everyone. Yes, it’s good news what’s happened this morning, though we must remember that only C has been sucessful. A & B were not, but they’re still heroines for taking on the might of the law that forced them to leave Ireland at a very difficult time for them.
“Choice Ireland has today welcomed the decision by the European Court of Human Rights to declare Ireland in violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Court unanimously held that the lack of any legislative or regulatory scheme in Ireland by which a woman could establish whether she is entitled to a lifesaving abortion violates Ireland’s obligation to ensure respect for her private life.
Spokesperson Sinéad Ahern said, “This decision vindicates the positions of Choice Ireland and others who have repeatedly stated that Irish abortion laws are unclear and may result in women being denied abortions they need to save their lives. It is effectively an instruction to the Irish government that it must legislate for the X case. We welcome this confirmation.”
full statement at link > http://choiceireland.org/content/choice-ireland-welcomes-echr-abortion-ruling?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Here’s the press release from IFPA
PRESS RELEASE
16th December 2010
IFPA WELCOMES LANDMARK DECISION FOR WOMEN
- European Court establishes violation of human rights
The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) said that today is a landmark day for women in Ireland. It welcomed the unanimous decision by the European Court of Human Rights that abortion, in certain circumstances, should be legalised in Ireland.
This decision by European Court of Human Rights reaffirms the Supreme Court X Case judgment of 1992 and two preceding referenda. Critically, the unanimous view of the Court that women’s rights in Ireland have been violated sends a very strong message that the State can no longer ignore the imperative to legislate for abortion.
Speaking following the delivery of the judgement on a case taken by three women to the European Court of Human Rights, the Chief Executive of the IFPA, Niall Behan, said: “Today’s decision is a landmark one for Ireland and, in particular, for women and girls. The very considered and clear view of the European Court of Human Rights leaves no option available to the Irish State other than to legislate for abortion services in cases where a woman’s life is at risk.
“As a first and immediate step, we are calling on the Government to set out how it intends to address today’s ruling, and ensure that no further violations of human rights take place because of the State’s failure to offer safe and legal abortion services in – albeit – limited circumstances. We don’t need another constitutional referendum, nor do we need any further court judgments. Simple and clear legislation, guided by the judgement of the European Court of Human Right’s Grand Chamber, is all that is required to afford women their human rights in Ireland. Such legislation could be prepared and passed by the Oireachtas within a short number of days.
“Furthermore, the Court has pointed to significant shortcomings in medical practice in relation to the protection of a woman’s life. Guidelines and practices now need to reflect today’s judgement. This will offer clarity and offer protection to both women and their doctors,” said Mr Behan.
Commenting on the European Court of Human Rights decision not to make specific recommendations in relation to abortion beyond where the life of the woman is at risk, Mr Behan said: “The Court has left it up to the Irish State to decide on abortion policy in broader circumstances, beyond where the life of a woman is at risk. Importantly, the Court has indicated that it does not believe that the ‘Constitutional Courts’ are an appropriate forum in which such matters can be decided. To this end, it is now incumbent on all political parties and individuals putting themselves forward for national office, to outline how they intend to deal abortion. It is time now for comprehensive policy which deals with the reality of abortion, which sees in excess of 5,000 women travelling abroad for services every year.”
Speaking following the judgement, Julie F. Kay, lead legal counsel for the Applicants, said: “For decades the State has ignored its legal responsibility and has turned a blind eye to protecting the life and health of women in such dire circumstances. No other woman in a life-threatening situation should be forced to endure the uncertainty, humiliation and distress that Applicant C, in the European Court of Human Rights case, did when faced with a threat to her life and health.”
The IFPA commended the bravery of the three women who took their case to the European Court of Human Rights, particularly given the stigmatisation of abortion in Ireland. It said that through its services it knows that women living in Ireland are frustrated that they have to leave the country to access health services they feel should be available to them at home. Women don’t want sympathy, they simply want access to the health services they need.
Just back from the Irish Family Planning Association press conference. (I should say that I am the chairperson of the IFPA.)The European Court of Human Rights’ 88-page judgment needs careful consideration, and June Caldwell has already posted our press statement, so I won’t duplicate that.
It is a landmark day for us all.
This article…
…is rubbish.
Look, the whole ruling is good! Great! Excellent for everyone! But… it’s not what you think it is. Even remotely! The whole issue is that Ireland is supposed to be pro-life but with exceptions for life-threatening situations. Except legally speaking, it was far too vague and never really specified the “life-threatening situations” part. At least, not nearly as much as it was meant to. The whole European Human Rights ruling was to fix that!
In other words, those people you said? X? And the first C? A and B? You can still call them letters, because they ain’t changing! This ruling affects one and only one person you’ve listed!
And they’re never going to be an exception to pro-life stances – either a state views foetuses as living or not, there’s no “living except when it’s not the mother’s fault” opinion! That’s utterly preposterous and even if something like that did come into place, it’d be nothing but a blame-game against people who weren’t careful enough with protection!
[...] Irish Independent, Choice Ireland, Catholics for Choice, the Anti-room (and not to forget their brilliant piece from yesterday), the Irish Family Planning Association, Journal.ie, the New York Times, the Guardian, and many, [...]
Great article.
But I think that it doesn’t matter why a woman wants an abortion. I think that it can be destructive to write about how some women *deserve* it or need it. It frames an assumption that another woman does not. I think it is still a moral argument rather than about women rights and autonomy.
(Belatedly) this is a great piece. The judgment itself is now a good result, albeit a complex one – and time will tell how it is applied here.
As far as what Jocelyn says, in the last comment, the fact is, when it comes to what women do with their bodies, it shouldn’t matter what you or I think. I may be anti-abortion; I may be pro-choice, but it really shouldn’t matter what my personal beliefs are when it comes to a choice like this that is, fundamentally, about women’s rights. Until women have the ability (because in theory we have the right) to determine their own paths, their own lives, what happens their own bodies, we don’t have full rights. It doesn’t matter what any individual happens to “think”; those are the facts.
i wrote some thoughts on abortion here
http://jessicawolverinemetaneira.blogspot.com/2010/12/oh-poor-little-babies.html
[...] A landmark for women’s rights in Ireland? (The Anti-Room) [...]
I like the name Aoife! I think it’s beautiful – albeit hard
to pronounce if you are not familiar with it (or Irish)