Ireland caught in battle over teenager's right to abortion

The authorities in the Republic of Ireland are embroiled in complex legal proceedings centring on a teenage girl who wishes to travel to the UK to abort a foetus which cannot survive for long outside the womb.

The case has reopened the abortion issue which has, in the past, produced social and political convulsions in a country which is traditionally Roman Catholic but is now increasingly liberal.

The 17-year-old, who is four months pregnant and can only be identified as Miss D, sought an abortion after discovering that the foetus suffers from a brain condition which means it could live for, at most, three days after birth.

Because the girl is in care, the health authorities moved to prevent her travelling to England to have an abortion. She is now asking an Irish court to overturn the decision.

The court case now under way is grappling with complex arguments. It involves the government, health authorities and the girl herself. In addition, the Irish Attorney General has appointed a lawyer to represent the interests of the unborn child.

Politicians from various parties have expressed sympathy for the girl but they are seeking to prevent the case becoming an issue in the current general election campaign.

The proceedings have been brought by the girl's boyfriend since she is a minor and cannot do so. Taken into care following a domestic incident, she discovered last week that the child she is carrying is anencephalic, a condition which means much of the foetus's brain is missing.

In an affidavit, the girl described her experience in hospital: "As I was lying on the bed for the scan and the nurse was showing me various parts of the baby on the monitor, it became clear that the baby had no head."

She added that she was extremely distressed by this news, and found it "most upsetting to contemplate carrying a baby to term in circumstances where it has been been condemned to death once born." The girl went on: "The fact that they expect me to carry this baby to term, despite the trauma this would naturally inflict and the inhumanity of the ordeal, does not show any real appreciation of a concern for my best interest or well-being."

In a point which is central to the case, she stressed that, while she was upset, she was not at all suicidal. Abortion in Ireland is illegal except where there is a real and substantial risk to the life - as distinct from the health - of the mother. This includes the risk of suicide.

In a very few similar - though not identical - cases, young women have been officially allowed to go to England for abortions. Unofficially, hundreds make the trip every year for this purpose.

Irish politicians have been criticised for not clarifying the country's abortion law, with critics saying the area is a moral and political morass from which legislators have shied away.

Changes to the law involve changing the constitution of the Republic, a move which requires a referendum. In the past, these have proved extremely divisive while failing to establish a definitive legal position.

Diarmuid Martin, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, said the foetus was "still a human person and therefore has rights. The legal problem was there for the entire last session of the Dail and I saw no politician rushing to address it."

The Alliance for Choice criticised successive governments from a different point of view. Its spokesperson, Dr Mary Muldowney, said of the girl: "She cannot afford any further delay and the Irish people will not thank the government for brutalising a young woman in their name."