Y is a woman who unsuccessfully sought to have 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 ...

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 ...

in 2014. She is an

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A per ...

who arrived in Ireland and became

suicidal Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or acad ...

after discovering she was

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 ...

as a result of a

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

in her home country. At the time, Ireland's abortion laws limited abortion in nearly all cases. She was unable to travel to the UK for an abortion, and after a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

the High Court granted an order to hydrate her against her will. After the 1992

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 ...

judgement, abortion should be legal in cases of suicide, and the then newly introduced

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 ...

allows abortion in those cases. Her baby was delivered via

caesarian section Caesarean section, also known as C-section, cesarean, or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen. It is often performed because vaginal delivery would ...

, but there was controversy over whether the government handled the case appropriately.

Case details

On 28 March 2014 a foreign national, with limited English arrived in Ireland. She said she had been raped in her home country. She discovered she was pregnant on 4 April, when she arrived in Ireland, and she sought an abortion. On 1 July 2014, she attempted to travel to the UK via ferry, but was arrested upon arrival for illegally entering the UK. She said that she felt suicidal, and the two psychiatrists on the panel decreed that she indeed was suicidal but that her pregnancy had proceeded to the point of viability, so that she could not access lawful abortion under the

. She then went on hunger strike. The HSE obtained a High Court order to hydrate her. The baby was delivered via caesarian section at 25 weeks gestation over the weekend of 2/3 August 2014. This was the first case under Ireland's recently enacted law, the

Reaction

Investigation

The case was being investigated by the HSE. Ms Y was too ill to be interviewed by the HSE. However a draft version was prepared and leaked to the media in September 2014. She initiated court action against the HSE to stop the inquiry, and the case was settled out of court with the HSE quashing the report.

Protests

* 2,000 people protested for more abortion access in Dublin on 20 August 2014. * Similar protests took place in

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

and

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

, and outside Irish embassies in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. * 800 pro-choice protestors marched in Dublin on 23 August 2014. * 400 people attended an

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

vigil in Dublin on 23 August 2014.

International media coverage

As well as Irish national media attention (in ''

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 ...

'', the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'', and the ''

Irish Examiner The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Republic of Ireland, Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork (city), Cork, though it is ...

''), the case was covered by international media, such as

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

's '' The Stream'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

Court case

By September 2015, she had been granted refugee status and had begun to sue 11 organisations. In March 2016, she initiated a court case against the Irish State for "alleged trespass, assault and battery; alleged negligence; and alleged reckless and intentional infliction of emotional harm and suffering".

References

{{Abortion in the Republic of Ireland 2014 in the Republic of Ireland

Medical scandals in the Republic of Ireland Political scandals in the Republic of Ireland Rape in the Republic of Ireland Anonymity pseudonyms