Irish law subjected a woman to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment
Published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017
NWCI has welcomed the ruling of the UN Human Rights Committee in the new case Whelan v. Ireland. The ruling finds that Ireland’s abortion laws have subjected a woman to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and violated her rights to privacy. The Committee ruled that “by criminalising and prohibiting abortion the state party discriminated against the author (Ms Whelan) because she is a woman.” This ruling follows last year’s similar ruling in the case Mellet v. Ireland.
Orla O’Connor, Director, NWCI said,
“Almost one year after the ground breaking UN ruling in the case Mellet v. Ireland, this second, similar ruling highlights again that our Government is still failing women in Ireland in a horrendous manner. Women are being subjected to what has been recognised as cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and their rights to privacy and non-discrimination are being violated. We must act now to end this hypocrisy and ensure that a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment is being called as soon as possible.”