Denying access to abortion in cases such as this is not (yet) considered a human rights violation.

And it’s not as bad as it seems: the HSE has, apparently, no authority to do what it did. Which is apparently what the court case is about.

I can’t fathom it, myself.

And shouldn’t this be a human rights issue? Seriously, FORBIDDEN THE GIRL TO TRAVEL?!? Romania and El Salvador, here we come…

The American anti-choice crowd are almost certainly funding Irish organisations in the same way Americans funded terrorists to blow up citizens of their dear ally the UK. There’s been evidence of “Christians” funding various things over here.

Imagine the freak-out if left-wing organisations in the US were being secretly funded by European money?

Perhaps because it’s an issue of ‘women’s rights’, which many people, whether they realise it or not, prioritise somewhere below ‘human rights’. I think it’s quite possible for someone with otherwise fairly progressive politics to have a bit of a blind spot about this. Also perhaps there is a more aggressive anti-abortion movement within the church than there is relating to most other controversial issues, which makes it more difficult for liberal-minded Catholics to speak publicly against it. Particularly if they are priests or others ina position of authority, who would no doubt be targeted and possibly lose their position. Not that I think there’s any excuse, but possibly these are some reasons.

In Brazil, poor women are routinely maimed and even killed by illegal abortion. But that’s cool with the “pro-life” Catholic church, so long as women have to be held “responsible” for their misbehavior by dying.

No lie. I once read a polemic by some priest or bishop or whatever the fuck he was, claiming that a “girl” who died of an illegal abortion deserves no more sympathy than a “girl” who blew herself up making a bomb.

Dr Berry Kiely, of the Pro-Life Campaign, said the view that abortion was the “compassionate solution” in this case was mistaken. “The minor at the centre of the case is entitled to be made fully aware of the possible consequences of going through with an abortion,” she said.

Youth Defence spokesman Eoghan de Faoite said he found it “quite appalling that a child’s life would be ended in such a violent way simply because that child might not live long after he or she is born”.

I don’t think I can actually describe how much comments like this piss me off. I heard a lot of similar comments when I went through EIFWAIL (elective induction for fetuses with anamolies incompatable with life) and it never ceases to amaze me. This child IS going to die. Period, end of story, no hope of survival, no life with a disability, is going to die. As someone who carried a child who wasn’t going to survive for a few weeks, the whole time knowing he wasn’t going to, I know what a horrible, awful, all consuming thing it is. You see your belly, you’re reminded your child is going to die. Your fetus kicks, you’re reminded your child is going to die. Some random person asks you your due date, you’re reminded your child is going to die. It is without a doubt the hardest thing I have ever endured and I cannot believe that anyone thinks forcing someone else to go through that is acceptable. She is 4 and half months pregnant with a fetus that does not have a brain, and therefore cannot feel pain, even if fetuses could at that point. If she chose to carry the pregnancy to term, that is her right, but she has decided that this is what works best for her and for the child she is carrying. Sometimes there are no good answers, you just get to choose shitty or less shitty. I was told I was a murderer, that I had chosen death for my son, and the fact of the matter was that it simply wasn’t true. Death was chosen for me, I simply made the choice of when based on my love for my child and my own sanity. Anyone that would force this girl to stay pregnant despite her desire to end her pregnancy is a monster.

I rather suspect it. Although one would probably find it hard to prove, Youth Defence seems suspiciously well-funded for an organisation getting all its funding domestically.

But. I am *this* much away from being a tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy-theorist, these days.
So. :)