Irish abortion rights organisations are urging the UN to hold Ireland to account for “violating the human rights of abortion seekers”. The Abortion Rights Campaign (ARC), Abortion Support Network (ASN), and Termination for Medical Reasons (TFMR) have submitted a report to the UN outlining how they say the State is failing to protect human rights.
The submission comes ahead of a universal periodic review of human rights in Ireland by the UN tomorrow.
During the 2016 review process, Ireland accepted the UN recommendation to “examine whether article 40.3.3 of the Constitution (the Eighth amendment) could be revised and the legal framework related to abortion broadened”.
In its national report to the UN General Assembly, the Irish Human Rights Council outline the changes in abortion law since the previous review in 2016, namely the repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018, and the enactment of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act in 2019.
The act provides for abortion on request up to 12 weeks, and only in extremely limited circumstances after 12 weeks: Emergencies, when pregnancy poses a "risk to the life, or of serious harm to the health" of the pregnant person, or when a "condition [is] likely to lead to death of fetus" before or within 28 days of birth.
It is an offence to intentionally end the life of a foetus save in accordance with the legislation, but offence provisions do not apply to a woman who has ended, or attempted to end, her own pregnancy. The act provides universal (free) access to termination of pregnancy services for people ordinarily resident in the State.
The joint submission by ARC, ASN, and TFMR says that this act “falls short of human rights standards”.
They assert that by failing to ensure abortion is accessible, and by forcing people to leave the country to obtain certain abortion-related care, the State is breaching people’s rights to health, privacy, equality, and non-discrimination.