Sky News reports that the European Court of Human Rights has criticized the Dublin government for “leaving its courts with a lack of good information regarding lawful abortions in the country.” Three women known as A, B, and C have been fighting Ireland’s ban on abortion.
In Ireland, abortion is only allowed if there is a “real and substantial risk to the life of the expectant mother.” The EU judges decided that one woman, who had been in remission for cancer and believed her life was at risk by the pregnancy, had her ‘rights’ violated:
The judges said there had been no explanation why this existing constitutional right to abortion had not been implemented.
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They ruled Ireland breached the woman’s right to respect for her private life because of this failure.
The court, however, dismissed the first two cases, unanimously ruling that the women’s rights were not violated by being forced to travel “because Irish law was legitimately trying to protect public morals.”