It should have been a happy day. April 23rd was Miss D's 17th birthday and she was about to see her baby on an ultrasound scan. But joy turned to distress when she looked at the 16-week- old foetus on the monitor. "The baby had no head," she said in her affidavit. Miss D discovered her baby had anencephaly and would die soon after birth. That was 10 days ago, but she was still trying to cope with the news yesterday as her High Court action opened, challenging the Health Service Executive's (HSE) refusal to allow her travel abroad for an abortion.
The teenager became visibly upset and left the courtroom with her boyfriend when the ultrasound report was read out.
After she received the diagnosis, she acted like most teenagers and turned to the internet to find out more. She found the risk could have been reduced by taking folic acid.
Mr Justice Liam McKechnie heard Miss D's relationship with her mother was "strained" and her father had no part in her upbringing. She was hospitalised in January after allegedly taking an overdose in front of her mother to get some attention. In February, she became the subject of a care order because of an alleged assault by her mother.
Mother and daughter sat together in court yesterday and they held hands at one stage. At other times, the teenager leaned against her boyfriend's shoulder.
She told her social worker she could not bring herself to look at her stomach or in the mirror. Every kick in her womb would be a reminder of the baby's fate.
Her affidavit spoke of her feeling of powerlessness and this must have been reinforced as she struggled at times to find a seat in the packed courtroom. Opposite her, five sets of legal teams lined up to make their arguments about the future of her unborn baby.
Outside, pro-choice group Choice Ireland held a rally supporting Miss D's case.
