Ireland challenged at the ECHR

All forms of abortion are illegal and subject (in theory) to punishment in Ireland. During this year’s bitter Lisbon campaign many on the Catholic right argued that greater European integration would lead to its legalisation. Perhaps these fears are about to be confirmed with today’s front page article in the Irish Times, which reports that three Irish women are holding the state to account at the European Court of Human Rights. The women claim that their health was put at risk by being forced to go abroad – i.e. Britain - for abortions. One of the main lines of questioning, the Dublin daily reports, “will focus on whether the State’s abortion law violates a key article of the European Convention on Human Rights.” As a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights – now incorporated into Irish law – the Irish government would eventually be obliged to implement whatever decisions are made by the courts.