The UN’s human rights committee has called on the Irish government to reform its restrictive abortion legislation, after ruling that it subjected a woman to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and violated her human rights.

The landmark ruling, which is expected to set an international precedent, calls on Ireland to introduce “accessible procedures for pregnancy termination” to prevent similar violations in the future. The judgment marks the first time that an international human rights committee has recognised that by criminalising abortion, a state has violated a woman’s human rights.



More Irish women seeking help for British abortions, says charity Read more

A panel of UN human rights committee experts found that Ireland’s prohibition and criminalisation of abortion services subjected Amanda Mellet to severe emotional and mental pain and suffering in 2011, when she was told she could not have an abortion in Ireland even though doctors had discovered that the foetus had congenital defects that meant it would die in the womb or shortly after birth.

Ruling on Mellet’s complaint, the committee concluded that Ireland’s abortion laws, which are among the most restrictive in the world, meant that she had to chose “between continuing her non-viable pregnancy or travelling to another country while carrying a dying foetus, at personal expense, and separated from the support of her family, and to return while not fully recovered”. This violated her right to freedom from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

Ireland has signed the international covenant on civil and political rights (ICCPR), which is part of the international bill of human rights. As such, it is obliged to compensate Mellet and to prevent similar violations from occurring in the future, the ruling states.

Ireland “should amend its law on voluntary termination of pregnancy, including if necessary its constitution, to ensure compliance with the covenant, including effective, timely and accessible procedures for pregnancy termination in Ireland”, the ruling stated.

Lawyers said the judgment could help trigger reform in other countries with restrictive abortion laws. “The decision is so significant that lawyers who are working with women who have been denied access to abortion across the world will be very encouraged and will be using it in their work to seek justice for their clients and legal change in countries where access to abortion services is criminalised,” Leah Hoctor, the regional director for Europe at the Center for Reproductive Rights, who filed the complaint to the UN human rights committee on Mellet’s behalf, said.

Prohibited from accessing a termination in Ireland, Mellet chose to travel to the UK and returned 12 hours after the procedure because she could not afford to stay longer. She had to pay for private treatment, and the round trip cost €3,000. Her foetus’s ashes were unexpectedly delivered three weeks later by courier.

“Many of the negative experiences she went through could have been avoided if [she] had not been prohibited from terminating her pregnancy in the familiar environment of her own country and under the care of health professionals whom she knew and trusted,” the committee wrote in its findings.

Mellett welcomed the ruling, and said in a statement: “The Human Rights Committee has made it clear that to redress the violations that I suffered, the Irish Government must ensure that other women do not live through similar violations of their rights. This cannot happen until until abortion is decriminalised and legislation is adopted to enable women to access services in Ireland.

“I hope the day will soon come when women in Ireland will be able to access the health services they need in our own country, where we can be with our loved ones, with our own medical team, and where we have our own familiar bed to go home and cry in. Subjecting women to so much additional pain and trauma simply must not continue.”

As well as confronting the shame and stigma associated with the criminalisation of abortion, Mellet’s suffering was made worse by the difficulties she faced in getting information about how to access an abortion, the committee said. Ireland’s Abortion Information Act allows healthcare providers to give patients information about the circumstances when abortion services can be available in Ireland or abroad, but the law prohibits them from saying anything that could be interpreted as promoting abortion.



The ruling said Ireland needed to take measures to ensure that healthcare providers are able to supply full information on safe abortion services “without fearing being subjected to criminal sanctions”, the committee said.

Abortion is permitted in Ireland only when there is a risk to the life of a pregnant woman. In every other circumstance it is a serious crime. Since 1983, the Irish constitution has placed the “right to life of the unborn” on an equal footing with the right to life of the pregnant woman.

Ireland’s health minister, Simon Harris, said he had read the committee’s report and found “the experience this woman had deeply upsetting. I have met with families who have been through the trauma of knowing their baby will not survive and I have been very moved by hearing of their experiences. I want to see this issue addressed”.

Hoctor said: “When a woman is denied the right to make decisions about her pregnancy, her health and wellbeing are jeopardised. In recognising that by outlawing abortion Ireland violated the human rights of Amanda Mellet and caused her intense anguish and distress, the committee has issued a landmark ruling confirming that Ireland’s abortion laws are cruel and inhumane, and violate women’s human rights.

“The Irish government must now comply with this ruling, redress the harm Ms Mellet suffered and reform its laws to ensure other women do not continue to face similar violations.”

Colm O’Gorman, the executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, said: “The Irish government must act promptly. Ireland’s constitution is no excuse. It must be changed to allow the reforms required by this ruling.”