The European Court of Human Rights has decided the Ireland abortion case. The Court held Ireland’s law violated one of the claimant’s rights by failing to provide a mechanism for her to obtain a legal abortion, which in Ireland is only available under limited circumstances. The decision doesn’t seem as bad as some had feared. The decision seems to afford Ireland the ability to prohibit abortion in many circumstances, and so doesn’t seem to usher in a Roe v. Wade-like regime of abortion on demand. I haven’t, though, had a chance to read the lengthy judgment carefully yet and so I will plan to post a more detailed statement in due course.
UPDATE: Here are some links with commentary on the decision. http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2010/12/16/no-european-roe-v-wade/
http://www.eclj.org/Releases/Read.aspx?GUID=b533673b-73b0-43ab-b7c6-07e091a1e706&s=eur
The decision rejected the argument that there is an international right to abortion and that is the best news. The Court’s judgment reflected a much greater willingness to defer to the judgments of the democratic branches, as opposed to the views of judges, than we’ve seen in decisions in this country (such as Roe and Casey). It was a welcome sign that the Court continually referred to the “unborn” and to the “unborn child.”
As others have noted, there are some negative aspects to the decision. The Court found that Irish law protects a woman’s decision to have an abortion when her life is at risk and, as the Court’s analysis makes clear, that doesn’t mean “the life of the mother” discussed in such classic cases as the hysterectomy situation when the mother has uterine cancer. In the US, the “health” exception prevents a legislature from any significant prohibitions on abortion (as opposed to regulations concerning abortion such as parental notice laws or waiting periods), and so it is possible that the “narrow” exception recognized by the ECHR will be expanded.
But, overall, the decision, despite its flaws, was about as much as could have been hoped for.
Richard M.