Ms Y

Last updated

Y is a woman who unsuccessfully sought to have an abortion in the Republic of Ireland in 2014. [1] [2] She is an asylum seeker who arrived in Ireland and became suicidal after discovering she was pregnant as a result of a rape in her home country. At the time, Ireland's abortion laws limited abortion in nearly all cases. She was unable to travel to the UK for an abortion, and after a hunger strike the High Court granted an order to hydrate her against her will. After the 1992 X Case judgement, abortion should be legal in cases of suicide, and the then newly introduced Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 allows abortion in those cases. Her baby was delivered via caesarian section, but there was controversy over whether the government handled the case appropriately. [3] [4]

Contents

Case details

On 28 March 2014 a foreign national, with limited English [5] [6] arrived in Ireland. [7] She said she had been raped in her home country. She discovered she was pregnant on 4 April, when she arrived in Ireland, and she sought an abortion. [8]

On 1 July 2014, she attempted to travel to the UK via ferry, but was arrested upon arrival for illegally entering the UK. [7] [9] She said that she felt suicidal, and the two psychiatrists on the panel decreed that she indeed was suicidal but that her pregnancy had proceeded to the point of viability, so that she could not access lawful abortion under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013. [10] She then went on hunger strike. The HSE obtained a High Court order to hydrate her. [5] The baby was delivered via caesarian section at 25 weeks gestation [3] over the weekend of 2/3 August 2014. [11]

This was the first case under Ireland's recently enacted law, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013. [5]

Reaction

Investigation

The case was being investigated by the HSE. [12] [13] Ms Y was too ill to be interviewed by the HSE. [14] However a draft version was prepared and leaked to the media in September 2014. She initiated court action against the HSE to stop the inquiry, and the case was settled out of court with the HSE quashing the report. [15] [16] [17] [18]

Protests

International media coverage

As well as Irish national media attention (in The Irish Times , [8] the Irish Independent , [22] and the Irish Examiner [23] ), the case was covered by international media, such as Al Jazeera's The Stream , [24] The Guardian , [3] The Sunday Times , [5] [25] and The New York Times . [26]

Court case

By September 2015, she had been granted refugee status and had begun to sue 11 organisations. [11]

In March 2016, she initiated a court case against the Irish State for "alleged trespass, assault and battery; alleged negligence; and alleged reckless and intentional infliction of emotional harm and suffering". [27] [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

Abortion in Ireland is regulated by the Health Act 2018. Abortion is permitted in Ireland during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, and later in cases where the pregnant woman's life or health is at risk, or in the cases of a fatal foetal abnormality. Abortion services commenced on 1 January 2019, following its legalisation by the aforementioned Act, which became law on 20 December 2018. Previously, the 8th Constitutional Amendment had given the life of the unborn foetus the same value as that of its mother, but the 36th constitutional amendment, approved by referendum in May 2018, replaced this with a clause permitting the Oireachtas (parliament) to legislate for the termination of pregnancies.

The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1983 was an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which inserted a subsection recognising "the equal right to life of the pregnant woman and the unborn". Abortion had been subject to criminal penalty in Ireland since at least 1861; the amendment ensured that legislation or judicial interpretation would be restricted to allowing abortion in circumstances where the life of a pregnant woman was at risk. It was approved by referendum on 7 September 1983 and signed into law on 7 October 1983. In 2018, it was repealed by referendum.

<i>Attorney General v X</i> Irish court case permitting abortion in exceptional circumstances

Attorney General v X, [1992] IESC 1; [1992] 1 IR 1, was a landmark Irish Supreme Court case which established the right of Irish women to an abortion if a pregnant woman's life was at risk because of pregnancy, including the risk of suicide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Hospital Galway</span> Hospital in Galway, Ireland

University Hospital Galway is a major acute hospital in Galway, Ireland. It is managed by Saolta University Health Care Group.

Abortion is illegal in El Salvador. The law formerly permitted an abortion to be performed under some limited circumstances, but in 1998 all exceptions were removed when a new abortion law went into effect.

The timeline of women's legal rights (other than voting) represents formal changes and reforms regarding women's rights. The changes include actual law reforms, as well as other formal changes (e.g. reforms through new interpretations of laws by precedents). The right to vote is exempted from the timeline: for that right, see Timeline of women's suffrage. The timeline excludes ideological changes and events within feminism and antifeminism; for that, see Timeline of feminism.

Abortion has been legal in India under various circumstances with the introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Regulations, 2003 were issued under the Act to enable women to access safe and legal abortion services.

Feminism has played a major role in shaping the legal and social position of women in present-day Ireland. The role of women has been influenced by numerous legal changes in the second part of the 20th century, especially in the 1970s.

Miss D refers to an abortion case in Ireland, Amy Dunne was a girl who wanted to travel to the United Kingdom for an abortion. Her identity was kept private at the time, and she was referred to only as Miss D.

A, B and C v Ireland is a landmark 2010 case of the European Court of Human Rights on the right to privacy under Article 8. The court rejected the argument that article 8 conferred a right to abortion, but found that Ireland had violated the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to provide an accessible and effective procedure by which a woman can have established whether she qualifies for a legal abortion under current Irish law.

Pregnancy is a potential result of rape. It has been studied in the context of war, particularly as a tool for genocide, as well as in other unrelated contexts, such as rape by a stranger, statutory rape, incest, and underage pregnancy. The current scientific consensus is that rape is at least as likely to lead to pregnancy as consensual sexual intercourse, with some studies suggesting rape may actually result in higher rates of pregnancy than consensual intercourse.

P. and S. v. Poland is a decision by the European Court of Human Rights in which the court ruled that the state of Poland had improperly hindered a 14-year-old girl in Lublin, P., from her right to an abortion. The other plaintiff in the case was S., her mother, born in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abortion-rights movements</span> Social movement advocating for legal access to abortion

Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pregnancy without fear of legal or social backlash. These movements are in direct opposition to anti-abortion movements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Savita Halappanavar</span> Woman who died from sepsis from being denied an abortion in Ireland

Savita Halappanavar was a dentist of Indian origin, living in Ireland, who died from sepsis after her request for an abortion was denied on legal grounds. In the wake of a nationwide outcry over her death, voters passed in a landslide the Thirty-Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, which repealed the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland and empowered the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion. It did so through the Health Act 2018, signed into law on 20 December 2018.

The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 was an Act of the Oireachtas which, until 2018, defined the circumstances and processes within which abortion in Ireland could be legally performed. The act gave effect in statutory law to the terms of the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court in the 1992 judgment Attorney General v. X. That judgment allowed for abortion where pregnancy endangers a woman's life, including through a risk of suicide. The provisions relating to suicide had been the most contentious part of the bill. Having passed both Houses of the Oireachtas in July 2013, it was signed into law on 30 July by Michael D. Higgins, the President of Ireland, and commenced on 1 January 2014. The 2013 Act was repealed by the Health Act 2018, which commenced on 1 January 2019.

<i>PP v. HSE</i>

P.P v. Health Service Executive was a 2014 case in the Irish High Court to rule on whether a pregnant woman who was brain dead ought to be kept on life support until the foetus was viable and could be delivered. The woman's next of kin wished her life support to be switched off but medical staff were unsure whether this would violate the foetus' right to life, which was guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland. The case was brought against the Health Service Executive (HSE) by N.P.'s father "P.P."

D v Ireland is a case of the European Court of Human Rights concerning abortion in Ireland. It refers to the court case itself, and the circumstances surrounding abortion for fatal foetal abnormalities in Ireland. In 2002 Deirdre Conroy discovered her pregnancy was non-viable and had a termination in Northern Ireland. A public letter, written using a pseudonym, asking for it to be legal was credited with influencing the 2002 abortion referendum. She lost a court case in the ECHR in 2006 because she had not exhausted all domestic remedies. In 2013 after the death of Savita Halappanavar, she came forward, revealed her identity and again asked for this sort of termination to be legal.

A. and B. v EHB and C. [1997] IEHC 176, commonly known as the C Case, was a legal case in Ireland on whether a thirteen-year-old girl who had become pregnant as a result of rape and was suicidal could be permitted to travel abroad to obtain an abortion. She was in the care of the Eastern Health Board (EHB), an organ of the Irish state, and the abortion was resisted by her parents, the plaintiffs in the case. Abortion law in Ireland at the time of the case made abortion inaccessible within Ireland; however, in the X Case (1992), the Supreme Court had ruled that abortion was permissible under the Constitution where there was a threat to a woman's life, including a risk of suicide.

Mellet v Ireland is a finding from the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 2016 that the Republic of Ireland's abortion laws violated human rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by banning abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality and by forcing her to travel to the United Kingdom for an abortion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland</span> 2018 amendment liberalising abortion laws

The Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which permits the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion. The constitution had previously prohibited abortion unless there was a serious risk to the life of the mother.

References

  1. ↑ McEnroe, Juno (21 August 2014). "Minister joins calls for public forum on law change after teen rape case". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  2. ↑ Holland, Kitty (3 September 2014). "Government 'reflecting' on abortion legislation, says Reilly". The Irish Times.
  3. 1 2 3 Valenti, Jessica (18 August 2014). "A pregnant, suicidal rape victim fought Ireland's new abortion law. The law won". The Guardian . Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Protests to call for repeal of 8th amendment". Irish Examiner. 20 August 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Tighe, Mark (17 August 2014). "State 'denied abortion' to rape victim". The Sunday Times . Archived from the original on 22 August 2014.
  6. ↑ Holland, Kitty (4 October 2014). "Timeline of Ms Y case". Irish Times.
  7. 1 2 Holland, Kitty (7 November 2014). "Report on Ms Y case to include journey to Liverpool to seek abortion". The Irish Times . Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  8. 1 2 Holland, Kitty; Mac Cormaic, Ruadhán (19 August 2014). "They said they could not do an abortion. I said, 'You can leave me now to die. I don't want to live in this world anymore'". The Irish Times.
  9. ↑ Holland, Kitty (10 November 2014). "Ms Y held in UK after failing to obtain abortion here". The Irish Times.
  10. ↑ Máiréad Enright & de Londras, "'Empty Without and Empty Within': The Unworkability of the Eighth Amendment after Savita Halappanavar and Miss Y" (2014) 20(2) Medico-Legal Journal of Ireland 85
  11. 1 2 Holland, Kitty (19 September 2015). "'Ms Y' to sue 11 respondents over abortion refusal". The Irish Times . Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  12. ↑ "HSE review terms on abortion case being considered by representatives of woman at centre of case". RTÉ. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  13. ↑ "HSE publish terms of reference for abortion case review". Irish Examiner. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  14. ↑ Sheehan, Maeve (2 November 2014). "Ms Y 'too fragile' to help inquiry into her treatment". Irish Independent. p. 3. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  15. ↑ "'Ms Y' court challenge to stop HSE inquiry into her care is struck out". The Irish Times. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2016. "These proceedings were brought to quash this report and this has now effectively been achieved an renders the report entirely redundant," the statement said.
  16. ↑ O’Loughlin, Ann (4 November 2015). "Ms Y settles court challenge to stop HSE inquiry". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  17. ↑ O’Faolain, Aodhan (4 November 2015). "HSE 'quash' Ms Y report on refused abortion". The Times.
  18. ↑ O’Loughlin, Ann (16 December 2014). "Ms Y seeks to stop HSE inquiry into her care". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  19. ↑ McMahon, Aine (20 August 2014). "Thousands at Dublin pro-choice march over Irish abortion laws". The Irish Times . Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  20. ↑ McGuire, Erin (23 August 2014). "Both sides of abortion debate air views in Dublin demonstrations". The Irish Times.
  21. ↑ "HSE to commence abortion inquiry immediately". 23 August 2014.
  22. ↑ McDonald, Dearbhail; Sheahan, Fionnan (16 August 2014). "Baby delivered as woman refused abortion under law". Irish Independent.
  23. ↑ "HSE to show terms of abortion-case review to woman's representatives before publication".
  24. ↑ "Ireland's abortion debate reignites". The Stream. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  25. ↑ Charter, David (19 August 2014). "New Irish abortion law fails rape victim". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  26. ↑ Dalby, Douglas (17 August 2014). "Case in Which Abortion Was Denied Reignites Controversy Over Irish Law". The New York Times .
  27. ↑ "Ms Y, asylum seeker refused an abortion, sues State". Irish Times. 18 March 2016.
  28. ↑ Healy, Tim (18 March 2016). "Ms Y suing the State after being refused abortion when she arrived here as asylum seeker pregnant from alleged rape". Irish Independent.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.