Amnesty: Ireland's abortion law treats women like 'criminals'
Ireland's abortion law — which treats women like "criminals" and "childbearing vessels" — must be changed, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
The human rights organization is calling for the decriminalization of abortion in the Catholic nation after a new "restrictive and unclear" law came into effect last year. The right to life of fetuses is also enshrined in the country's constitution.
A report published Tuesday said 4,000 women travel from Ireland to the United Kingdom and other European countries for abortions every year. Some of them are rape survivors or have fetuses with severe health issues.
The Amnesty report comes less than a month after Ireland became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage by national referendum. Ahead of the vote, David Quinn, founder and director of Dublin-based Iona Institute — a socially conservative group that promotes traditional Catholic values — said abortion rights may be the next to face a referendum.
Ireland's Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act — which allowed abortion in limited cases for the first time in the nation's history — went into effect in January 2014. The new law was spurred by widespread attention and outcry following the October 2012 death of Savita Halappanavar.
The 31-year-old dentist died from septicemia a week after she was admitted to a hospital in the western Irish city of Galway while having a miscarriage at 17 weeks pregnant. She asked for a termination but staff refused.
The law states abortion is a criminal offense unless the mother's life is at risk, including if she is at risk of committing suicide. However, Amnesty International charges it fails to define what constitutes a risk to life. The group also wants women to be allowed abortions in cases of rape, severe fetal impairment, or a risk to their health at the minimum.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee said last year that Ireland should revise its abortion laws to provide for exceptions in cases of rape, incest, serious risks to the mother's health and fatal fetal abnormality.
The Amnesty report details the cases of women who left Ireland to undergo abortions, including a woman named only as Lupe, who had the procedure in her home country of Spain after carrying a fetus with no heartbeat for 14 weeks.
"The human rights of women and girls are violated on a daily basis because of a constitution that treats them like child-bearing vessels," Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's secretary general, said in a statement. "The Irish state can no longer ignore this reality, and the appalling impact it is having on thousands of people every year."
But Cora Sherlock, deputy chairperson for the anti-abortion Pro Life Campaign, said Amnesty has " become a de facto campaigning group for abortion."
"Amnesty has had nothing to say about horrific human rights abuses like babies being born alive after failed abortions and being left alone to die in the corners of hospitals without receiving and medical attention or care," she said in a statement.
"Amnesty raises the complex case of rape," she added. "However if they are truly concerned about protecting women they would seek stronger sentences for rapists and real justice for those who are victims of rape. Rape is an unimaginable and horrendous crime however we do not suggest ending the life of an innocent to rectify any other crime."