Miss D refers to an

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 ...

case in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, Amy Dunne was a girl who wanted to travel to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

for an abortion. Her identity was kept private at the time, and she was referred to only as Miss D. Amy Dunne was a teenage girl who became

pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestation, gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Conception (biology), Conception usually occurs ...

while under HSE care in 2007. A scan of the foetus showed it suffering from

anencephaly Anencephaly is the absence of a major portion of the brain, skull, and scalp that occurs during embryonic development. It is a cephalic disorder that results from a neural tube defect that occurs when the rostral (head) end of the neural tube ...

. This fatal foetal abnormality means the baby would not live for long outside the womb. Dunne wanted to travel to the

for an

, since abortion in Ireland was very heavily restricted. The HSE attempted to stop her going, by falsely telling her they had a court order preventing her from travelling, by saying they would resort to physically restraining her if needed, and they also wrote to the

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace") is the national police and security service of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards". The service is headed by the Garda Commissio ...

asking them to stop her travelling. Since the

Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is m ...

in 1992, it has not been illegal to travel outside Ireland for an abortion. A High Court judge ruled that she had the right to travel to the UK, and strongly criticised the HSE's handling of the case. The HSE was ordered to pay costs, which were estimated at up to €1 million. She had a medical, not surgical abortion in the UK. The HSE refused to state if they paid for the abortion.

References

2007 in the Republic of Ireland Abortion in the Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland abortion case law Political scandals in the Republic of Ireland {{law-stub

See also

References