Ireland allowed mental health abortion exception 30 years ago

Ireland has protected the right to seek an abortion because of the risk of suicide since 1992

By Sandhya Raman

Posted December 7, 2023

While 18 U.S. states have essentially banned abortion for pregnant people facing a mental health crisis, Ireland, which had one of the strictest abortion laws in the European Union until 2018, has taken a different approach.

Ireland has protected the right to seek an abortion because of the risk of suicide since 1992. While more than two-thirds of U.S. states have enacted laws that include mental health among the medical reasons a woman can have an abortion, Ireland protected exceptions for risk of suicide long before the country voted in 2018 to repeal its amendment banning abortion.

Continued: https://rollcall.com/2023/12/07/07irelandsidebar/


FEATURE: Brilliant Letter to Irish Minister of Health Simon Harris

from the Abortion Support Network, London
19 December 2018

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6 December 2018

Dear Mr Simon Harris

You and I don’t know each other, although I follow you on Twitter. We share a common area of interest, or, if not interest, a common duty to protect.

I am not a health official or a medical professional. I am the founder of Abortion Support Network (www.asn.org.uk), the England-based charity that provides information on the least expensive methods of abortion and travel and money towards the E500 to E3000 it can cost to travel and pay privately for the procedure. We are a small organisation, without an office or a land line, and since we started in 2009 we have helped almost 5,000 people. The majority have been resident in the Republic of Ireland.

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/safeabortionwomensright/feature-brilliant-letter-to-irish-minister-of-health-simon-harris-from-the-abortion-support-network-london-19-december-2018?e=372dd34034


IRELAND – Justice for Ms Y – finally

IRELAND – Justice for Ms Y – finally

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
June 14, 2018

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) of Ireland has acknowledged liability and said it is willing to compensate a young woman known as Ms Y for failing to ensure she was provided with an abortion when she first sought one as a teenager in 2014.

Ms Y sought refugee status in Ireland after she was kidnapped, beaten, and repeatedly raped by the head of a paramilitary organisation in her home country. She discovered she was pregnant shortly after she arrived in Ireland in March 2014, at which time she was at only eight weeks pregnant. The story of how she was mistreated, how her rights and needs were ignored and violated by everyone in the health system who saw her, adding up to a substantial number of people over a period of almost three months, is a shameful tale.

Continued: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/ireland-justice-for-ms-y-finally/


Ireland – HSE willing to compensate refugee rape victim Ms Y over denied abortion

HSE willing to compensate refugee rape victim Ms Y over denied abortion

Mark Tighe
June 10 2018

The HSE has admitted liability and said it is willing to compensate a woman known as Ms Y for failing to provide her with an abortion when she first sought one.

Ms Y, a refugee who sought an abortion in Ireland after she was raped in her home country, is suing the state and two private counselling groups over her treatment after she requested, but was refused, an abortion.

Continued: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ireland/hse-willing-to-compensate-refugee-rape-victim-ms-y-over-denied-abortion-hn2lcpsm5


Ireland: Suicidal women struggle to get second opinion when seeking an abortion

Suicidal women struggle to get second opinion when seeking an abortion
Expert teams are not always available when assessment needed

Eilish O'Regan
January 26 2018

Concerns have emerged at senior HSE levels about the failure to always secure a psychiatrist to give a second opinion in cases where a pregnant woman is seeking an abortion on the grounds she is suicidal.

An internal document said in some cases it has meant the two psychiatrists and obstetrician, who are required under law to make an assessment in such cases, cannot be found.

Continued: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/suicidal-women-struggle-to-get-second-opinion-when-seeking-an-abortion-36532604.html