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Report on Health Hearings on the Implementation of the Government

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Report on Health Hearings on the Implementation of the Government Tithe an Oireachtais An Comhchoiste um Shláinte agus Leanaí Éisteachtaí Poiblí maidir le Cur i nGníomh chinneadh an Rialtais tar éis an Tuarascáil ón nGasra Saineolaithe i dtaobh A, B agus C vs Éire a fhoilsiú. Imleabhar 2 Eanáir 2013 Houses of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children Report on Public Hearings on the Implementation of the Government decision following the publication of the Expert Group Report on A, B, & C vs Ireland. Volume 2 January 2013 31/HHCN/011 Table of Contents Appendix 3 List of Written Submissions ............................................................................ 7 Appendix 4 Written Submissions ........................................................................................ 9 Appendix 5 Expert Group Report .................................................................................... 4 2 3 Appendix 6 Terms Of Reference ..................................................................................... 4 8 1 Appendix 3 List of Written submissions Amnesty International Association for Improvements in Maternity Services Ireland Oliver Bible Barbara Burke Patrick Carroll Centre for women Policy Studies Cork Women’s Right to Choose Professor Seán Daly Professor Fiona De Londras Doctors for Choice Dr Eamonn Doohan Grace Duffy European Life Network Sophie Faherty Stephanie Fleming Richard Greene Human Rights Watch Therese Hynes International Symposium on Maternal Health Ireland Stand Up Irish Choice Network Irish Feminist Network John Kelleher Professor Kevin Malone Aileen McCarthy Pádraig McCarthy Dr Mike McKillen Dr John Monaghan Dr Jacqueline Montwill Professor Siobhán Mullally Dr Mark Murphy Dr Claire Murray Claire Nolan One Family Jonathan Pierson James Power Socialist Party Alex Staveley St Patrick’s University Hospital Termination for Medical Reasons Ireland Sarah Winston Women Hurt Appendix 4 Written Submissions SUBMISSION TO THE JOINT OIREACHTAS COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND CHILDREN REGARDING THE REPORT OF THE EXPERT GROUP ON THE JUDGMENT IN A, BAND C V IRELAND1 Amnesty International urges the Joint Committee to take the opportunity presented by its deliberations on the Expert Group Report’s recommendations to ensure that Irish law and policy on abortion is in line with Ireland’s international human rights obligations to women and girls. This will require both short- and long-term action on the part of the government. It will also require going beyond the recommendations contained in the Export Group Report’s recommendations, as they focus narrowly on the implementation of the current and—from a human rights perspective— inadequate legal framework regarding abortion in Ireland. The Irish government has an immediate obligation to give effect to its current legal framework on abortion by facilitating access to abortion for women whose lives are endangered by their pregnancies. With this in mind, the Joint Committee should emphasise the following points: No legislative action should be taken that falls short of affirming the 1992 judgement of the Supreme Court in Attorney General v X or that seeks to restrict lawful abortion further, as this would be impermissible from the perspective of Ireland’s obligation under international human rights law to refrain from implementing retrogressive measures. Guidelines on access to legal abortion in Ireland must reflect the indivisibility between the right to life and the right to health. As such, guidelines must take into account that any delay in the provision of abortion services may in fact contribute to a deterioration in the health situation of the pregnant woman, to the detriment of her right to life. Further, there can be no justification for allowing a situation of real and substantial risk to the pregnant women’s life to deteriorate to a situation of imminent and inevitable risk, if an effective course of medical action is known and can be taken. It is incumbent upon states to regulate the right to conscientious objection in the health field in such a way as to balance and protect both the health practitioner’s rights and the rights or her/his patients to life, health, non- discrimination, and other rights of those potentially denied services. Any regulation should clarify that a review board of women’s right to access abortion should never include an individual who objects to all abortion. Guidelines must also clarify that in emergency situations where no referral or alternative service is available, accessible, or adequate, there can be no room for conscientious objection. In line with international human rights standards, women must be the main decision-makers with regard to their pregnancies and care. States have an obligation to provide an enabling environment ensuring free, informed, and autonomous decision-making in the health field, including where it comes to pregnancy and abortion. The ultimate decision on whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term should be a matter for a woman concerned, who should be provided with a means of exercising this right in an effective manner. Restrictive abortion laws and practices run counter to Ireland’s human rights obligations with regard to a number of rights, including the human rights to life, health, non-discrimination, and physical integrity. The Joint Committee must, therefore, advise the government on how to enact the legal framework necessary to respect, protect and fulfil women and girls’ right to legal, safe and accessible abortion in circumstances more widely than where there is a real and substantial risk to life of the mother. At a minimum, the Joint Committee should advise Ireland to decriminalize abortion in all circumstances. Additionally the government must reform legislation to provide access to abortion not only in cases where there is a risk to life of the woman or girl, but also in cases of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest and in circumstances where continuation of pregnancy would put the health of the woman or girl at risk. Any such reforms must ensure that safe abortion is accessible in practice without unreasonable restrictions.
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