A WAS UNMARRIED, unemployed and living in poverty when she became pregnant unintentionally. She had four young children, all in foster care as a result of problems she had faced as an alcoholic.
In the year before her fifth pregnancy, she remained sober and was in constant contact with social workers with a view to regaining custody of her children. She felt a further child would jeopardise the successful reunification of her existing family.
She decided to travel to Britain to have an abortion. The British NHS refused to carry out the operation at public expense, so she borrowed money from a moneylender. Her difficulty in raising the money delayed the abortion by three weeks.
On the train returning from Dublin, she began bleeding profusely and had to be met by ambulance from the train. At a nearby hospital, she underwent a dilation and curettage and was diagnosed with an incomplete abortion.
She says she experienced pain, nausea and bleeding for up to nine weeks, but was afraid to seek medical advice because of the prohibition on abortion.
Since the filing of her application in 2005, she became unexpectedly pregnant and gave birth to her fifth child in 2008.
At the time the court case got under way last year, she was struggling with depression and trying to support her children. Two of the children – one of whom is disabled – remain in State care. She visits each one several times every week. She maintains her decision to terminate her pregnancy in 2005 was the correct decision.
COURT VERDICT
There was no violation of her rights under Article 8 (right to private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
B WAS SINGLE when she became pregnant unintentionally. She had taken the morning-after pill the day after intercourse, but was advised by two different doctors that it had not only failed, but given rise to a significant risk of becoming an ectopic pregnancy, where the foetus develops outside the uterus.
She says she faced delays in gathering information and making travel arrangement to England. The abortion was delayed for several weeks because the counselling centre in Dublin was closed for Christmas holidays. Being around her family during this time – without disclosing she was pregnant – involved additional hardship. She said her mother was a practising Catholic who years earlier had told her not to return home if she became pregnant without being married.
When she travelled to Britain for an abortion, she did not list an Irish address as she was worried about her family learning of the procedure. She travelled alone to and from England, staying two nights in a low-cost hotel. She stayed a second night as she was not fit to drive home due to receiving conscious sedation – a combination of intravenous medicines used to alleviate pain and stress during surgery.
She says she would have preferred more familiar surroundings and to be able to return home immediately after such a difficult and isolating day of travel and medical treatment.
Ms B said she found it very onerous to make her travel arrangements as well as cover the range of costs such as hotels, air fairs, as well as supplies such as sanitary towels she was told to bring with her to the clinic.
At the clinic, she said she was told to say that she had a miscarriage if she needed to go for follow-up care in Ireland; this, she was told, would help her avoid scrutiny and judgment by medical professionals.
On her return, she started passing blood clots, she visited a Dublin clinic for follow-up care because it was affiliated with the clinic in England. She believed they would be more supportive.
The impossibility for her to have an abortion in Ireland made the procedure, she said, unnecessarily expensive, traumatic and complicated.
COURT VERDICT
There was no violation of her rights under Article 8 (right to private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
C A LITHUANIAN national living in Ireland, she had been treated with chemotherapy for cancer over the course of three years.
She had asked her doctor before treatment about the implications of her illness regarding her desire to have children. She was advised it wasn’t possible to predict the effect of pregnancy on her cancer; if she did become pregnant, it would be dangerous for the
foetus if she were to have chemotherapy.
The cancer went into remission and she became unintentionally pregnant in 2005. She was unable to find a doctor willing to make a determination as to whether her life would be at risk if she continued to term or to give her clear advice on how the foetus might have been affected.
She says one medical consultant simply told her to “go home and decide, love”.
She says she received minimal and insufficient medical information and says she was forced to do her own research on her condition, treatment and likely pregnancy outcomes on the internet.
Given the uncertainty about the risk involved, she decided it was too risky to continue her pregnancy.
Ms C travelled to England for an abortion.
Although her pregnancy was at an early stage – the first trimester – she could not have a medical abortion (where a miscarriage is induced by drugs) because she was a non-resident. Instead, she had to wait eight weeks until a surgical abortion was possible.
On returning home, she suffered the complications of an incomplete abortion, including prolonged bleeding and infection. She attended her GP several months after the abortion, who made no reference to the fact that she was no longer visibly pregnant.
In 2008 she was told by her doctor that it was safe for her to attempt to become pregnant again. She began making lifestyle changes and taking vitamin supplements recommended for healthy pregnancy.
She subsequently learned that her cancer had returned.
Ms C and her partner believe that if she had become pregnant again in 2008, she would have been in the same situation as three years earlier. Last year, her lawyers told the court that she required surgery to deal with the cancer.
She has been living in Ireland for several years and continues to reside here. She has family in Lithuania, but she considers Ireland her home and has a partner, employment, ongoing medical treatment and community in Ireland.
COURT VERDICT
The court ruled unanimously that her rights were breached under Article 8 (right to private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.