Ireland: ‘Our reproductive health laws have come to the attention of the UN Torture Committee’

'Our reproductive health laws have come to the attention of the UN Torture Committee'

Ireland’s abortion laws are cruel, inhuman, degrading and discriminatory, writes Niall Behan.

Aug 4, 2017
Niall Behan CEO, Irish Family Planning Association

WHEN THE INTERNATIONAL experts on the United Nations Convention Against Torture reviewed Ireland last week, one of their principal areas of concern was reproductive coercion.

Felice Gaer, the Committee’s Vice-Chair and its longest serving member, grilled the state delegation about Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution—the Eighth Amendment—and the ways in which a woman’s right to informed consent and bodily autonomy during pregnancy and childbirth are affected by this provision.

And she had many questions about what she termed “this serious, difficult subject in Ireland of abortion”.

Continued at link: The Journal: http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/our-reproductive-health-laws-have-come-to-the-attention-of-the-un-torture-committee-3526954-Aug2017/