Rights Body Calls for Abortion to be legalised

Thursday, January 28, 2010

ONE of the world’s leading human rights organisations has called on the Government to decriminalise abortion.

In a report by Human Rights Watch, the Government is accused of violating a long list of human rights in its treatment of abortion and related issues including "health, information, privacy, freedom from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, life, equal protection under the law, and nondiscrimination".

Entitled A State of Isolation: Access to Abortion for Women in Ireland, the report says the actions of the Government in the face of the "need for abortion" have been "erratic and divisive" and it calls for a change to its restrictive abortion laws to meet its obligations under international law.

Last week, the results of an Irish Examiner/Red C poll found two-thirds of 18- 34-year-olds believe abortion should be legalised in Ireland.

The document urges the Government to take "immediate steps toward decriminalising all abortion for women living in Ireland", and it criticises the Government for doing "little to mitigate the effects of a condemnatory public discourse on abortion".