A photograph caption in the edition of January 17th stated that Irelands constitutional ban on abortion was ruled (by the European Court of Human Rights) to violate the rights of pregnant women to receive proper medical care in life-threatening cases.
The Department of Health has pointed out that the ABC v Ireland judgement confirmed that article 40.3.3. of the Constitution is in conformity with the European Convention on Human Rights.
The court examined restrictions on the availability of terminations, and noting the right to lawfully travel abroad for a termination and the right of access to appropriate information and medical care, confirmed that the prohibition in Ireland of abortion for health and well-being reasons, based as it is on the profound moral views of the Irish people as to the nature of life...and the protection to be accorded to the right to life of the unborn does not contravene the Convention on Human Rights.
The court accepted that article 40.3.3 of the Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in the X case, provides that it is lawful to terminate a pregnancy in Ireland if it is established as a matter of probability that there is a real and substantial risk to the life, as distinct from the health, of the mother, which can only be avoided by a termination of the pregnancy.