Teenager's doomed pregnancy 'inhumane'
It would be inhumane to force a pregnant teenager to carry her baby for nine months knowing it would die, the High Court heard today.
The 17-year-old girl, known only as Miss D and from Leinster, is asking judges to allow her to travel to Britain for an abortion after the Health Service Executive (HSE) told her she could not go.
The teenager is four months pregnant. Last week, she found out the foetus has not formed properly and suffers from anencephaly, meaning a major part of the brain, scalp and skull is missing.
The newborn baby will live three days at most.
Miss D has been in the care of the Health Service Executive (HSE) since March and it asked the Gardaí to step in and prevent her from travelling.
The court heard that gardaí do not have those powers.
Opening the case, Eoghan Fitzsimons SC, for Miss D, told the court the diagnosis was most distressing for her.
He said the HSE’s claim that under law she cannot travel would require her to carry the baby full term only for it to die. He said that would subject her to degrading treatment.
“It seems here to be most inhumane to expect her to do that,” he told the court.
Mr Fitzsimons said Miss D would suffer mental and physical trauma and great discomfort, and rejected claims made by a social worker that she had changed her mind about the abortion. He insisted Miss D only accepted she would continue with the pregnancy if she lost the court battle.
The girl’s mother and her boyfriend both support her decision to terminate the pregnancy.
Irish law outlaws abortion unless there is a real risk to the life of the mother, including suicide. Miss D has insisted she is not suicidal.
The court heard most women who discover their baby has anencephaly decide to abort the foetus, even in late stages of pregnancy.
Outlining more than a dozen reasons Miss D should be allowed to travel, Mr Fitzsimons said the HSE had misconstrued the meaning of the Children’s Act.
Mr Fitzsimons went on to document medical studies which showed complications from anencephaly and a risk to the life of mothers in these circumstances.
He also told the court that if Miss D was not in the care of the HSE and her parents supported her decision for abortion, there was nothing to stop her travelling.
Around 7,000 Irish women travel to Britain each year for an abortion.
The case continues.
