Irish Supreme Court overturns ruling on constitutional rights of the unborn

Mar 8, 2018 by

from SPUC:

The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that unborn children have no rights in the Irish constitution apart from the right to life, as enshrined in the Eighth Amendment.

In a landmark judgement, the seven judge court this morning overturned a decision made by the High Court last summer that an unborn child has rights in law beyond the constitutionally protected right to life. This ruling removes a significant obstacle in the government’s plans to hold a referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment in late May.

Wide implications

The High Court decision involved a Nigerian man in a relationship with an Irish woman, who was seeking Irish residency on the basis that he was the father of her unborn child. Mr Justice Richard Humphreys found that unborn children, including the baby of a parent facing deportation, enjoys “significant” rights and legal protection at common law, by statute, and under the Constitution, “going well beyond the right to life alone”.

Read here

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