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 Rules on terminating a pregnancy in once stridently Catholic Ireland
are among the world's most restrictive and a referendum on widening
access could be held if a citizens' assembly set up by government
recommends it in a decision expected next month.
At present, terminations are allowed only if a mother's life is in
danger, after a total ban was lifted in 2013, a provision
Commissioner Nils Muiznieks said still has a "chilling" effect on
doctors who must decide who meets restrictive requirements.
The Council, not part of the European Union, is a pan-European body
concerned primarily with the region's human rights.
"It's an unjust regime because it doesn't actually affect the number
of abortions. If a woman has means to travel, she will do so, so
that leave poorer women to fend for themselves in Ireland,"
Muiznieks told Reuters in a telephone interview.
This deepens social inequalities and often leads to traumatic,
clandestine procedures, Muiznieks said in a Council of Europe report
covering a range of human rights issues in Ireland.
"Culturally, politically, socially, Ireland has changed
significantly and I think that is not reflected in the current
regime," he said.
Muiznieks joined the United Nations Human Rights Committee in
recommending that at a very minimum, the Irish government should
decriminalize abortion and widen the law to allow for abortion in
cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape or incest.
In a letter responding to the recommendations, Ireland's government
said the current laws do not prevent a doctor communicating in a
normal way with regards to a patient's care.
The report was also critical of the government's handling of past
abuses of women and children at Church-run institutions, saying
enquiries into different cases had been inconsistent and redress
proposed to victims inadequate.
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The comments came after Ireland said it may widen an inquiry into
so-called "mother-and-baby homes" -- one of three areas where
shortcomings were identified in the report -- after the remains of
babies ranging from new-born to three-years-old were found in the
sewers of one such home this month.
While the Catholic Church ran many of Ireland's social services in
the 20th century, they did so with state funding and the report
expressed concern that in most cases, the state's accountability
"has not been fully accepted, if at all"
The government's response did not specifically mention
"mother-and-baby homes" but it said authorities will give the
recommendations careful attention.
"The approach of the government heretofore has been quite ad-hoc.
The people have waited a long time, if you're going to do it, do it
right. These are quite serious human rights violations we're talking
about," Muiznieks said.
"The government cannot wash its hands of the human rights violations
that took place. It's quite uncomfortable to have this mirror in
front of you but the only way to move on is to provide justice."
(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
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