The United Nations Human Rights Committee has issued a report condemning Ireland’s ban on abortion as “cruel” and calling for it to immediately make an exception to abort children with fatal defects.
Ireland forbids abortion for any reason except threats to a mother’s life. The UN panel has no authority to force any action, but abortion advocates hope that a condemnation from “experts” in “human rights” will intensify international pressure on the country to change.
The report is based on the complaint of Dublin woman Amanda Mellet, who was denied an abortion in 2011 despite her child being diagnosed with a heart defect, ensuring death outside the womb. The Committee concluded that Ireland elevates “inviable” fetuses above women, which “cannot be justified.”
It further demands Ireland provide Mellet with financial compensation and state-supported counseling.
However, pro-lifers reject the premise that allegedly fatal diagnoses justify killing a child, citing cases where such predictions have been proven wrong, along with concerns that such an exception would open the door to further devaluations of human life.
In response to the UN, the Pro-Life Campaign of Ireland says its latest report is more proof the human rights committee “is one hundred percent partisan in favour of abortion and never takes account of the hugely damaging effects of abortion on both mother and baby.”
PLC’s Cora Sherlock further notes that the committee “has never once taken countries like Britain and Canada to task over the horrific practice of babies being born alive after failed abortions and left to die in hospital corners.”
