''D v Ireland'' is a case of the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

concerning

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

in Ireland. It refers to the court case itself, and the circumstances surrounding abortion for fatal foetal abnormalities in Ireland. In 2002 Deirdre Conroy discovered her pregnancy was non-viable and had a termination in Northern Ireland. A public letter, written using a pseudonym, asking for it to be legal was credited with influencing the 2002 abortion referendum. She lost a court case in the ECHR in 2006 because she had not exhausted all domestic remedies. In 2013 after the

death of Savita Halappanavar Savita Halappanavar ( Savita Andanappa Yalagi; 9 September 1981 – 28 October 2012) was a dentist of Indian origin, living in Ireland, who died from sepsis after her request for an abortion after a prolonged miscarriage was denied on legal gro ...

, she came forward, revealed her identity and again asked for this sort of termination to be legal.

Initial letter

In January 2002, Deirdre Conroy was 39, the mother of two boys aged 10 and 12, and expecting twins. At 14 weeks pregnant, the initial results of an amniocentesis test revealed one of the twins had died. Three weeks later, full test results revealed the second twin had

Edwards syndrome Edwards may refer to: People * Edwards (surname), an English surname * Edwards family, a prominent family from Chile * Edwards Barham (1937–2014), American politician * Edwards Davis (1873–1936), American actor, producer, and playwright * Edwa ...

, a condition which usually ends in miscarriage or death shortly after birth because of heart abnormalities, kidney malformations, and other internal organ disorders. In the run up to the Twenty-fifth Amendment Referendum, in February 2002, she wrote an open letter to ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' newspaper, using the pseudonym Deirdre de Barra, telling of her case, and asking for termination for fatal foetal abnormalities to be legalised in Ireland. David Norris supported termination for FFA in that case. Terminations for fatal foetal abnormalities were not covered by the Twenty-fifth Amendment referendum, and would have remained illegal regardless of the outcome of that vote. The letter was credited with playing a part in the defeat of the Twenty-fifth Amendment referendum. She later travelled to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

for a termination. The Irish hospital would not give her a referral letter, and her doctors were very guarded when discussing abortion with her.

Court case

D's claim

D complained about the need to travel abroad to have an abortion in the case of a lethal foetal abnormality and about the restrictions for which the 1995 Act provided. She expressly confined her complaint to the situation of a fatal foetal diagnosis, considering that her situation was exacerbated by the above-noted limitations. She invoked Articles 3, 8 and 10 of the Convention. She further complained under Article 14 that she was discriminated against as a pregnant woman or as a pregnant woman with a lethal foetal abnormality: a person with a serious medical problem would never have encountered such difficulties in obtaining medical care and advice.

Ireland's claim

Domestic Remedies

The Government maintained that, as soon as the diagnosis of Trisomy 18 was confirmed, the applicant should have initiated an action in the High Court, pursued if unsuccessful to the Supreme Court, to obtain a declaration that Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution allowed an abortion in Ireland in the case of a fatal foetal abnormality together with the necessary ancillary mandatory order.

Possibly not illegal in Ireland

The Irish government maintained that termination for fatal foetal abnormalities might not be illegal, pointing to the

X Case ''Attorney General v X'' 9921 IR 1 (more commonly known as the "X Case") was a judgment of the Irish Supreme Court which established the right of Irish women to an abortion if a pregnant woman's life was at risk because of pregnancy, including th ...

as proof that the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

could develop what "unborn" means

Judgement

The court dismissed the case, since D did not comply with the requirement to exhaust domestic remedies as regards the availability of abortion in Ireland in the case of fatal foetal abnormality.

Later developments

In 2013 after the

, Deirdre Conroy revealed herself as Deirdre de Barra of the original letter, and the D in ''D. v Ireland'', and spoke publicly about her case, and her experiences. She requested to address the Oireachtas committee that was debating the

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 ( Act No.35 of 2013; previously Bill No.66 of 2013) was an Act of the Oireachtas which, until 2018, defined the circumstances and processes within which abortion in Ireland could be legally perfo ...

References

External links

Full court judgement on bailii

Full court judgement on HUDOC
{{Abortion Abortion in the Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland abortion case law European Court of Human Rights cases involving Ireland 2002 in the Republic of Ireland 2006 in the Republic of Ireland