Politics
Tuesday May 15, 2007
Irish Teen Decides Against Abortion of Disabled Baby – Credits Pro-life Websites for Change
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Hilary White
DUBLIN, May 15, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The teenaged mother of an anencephalic child, known in the press as “Miss D,” has told the Irish Independent that she has changed her mind about aborting her baby. She said today, “I feel this is just a normal human being, I want it to have its own (burial) plot.”
A week after winning a court decision allowing her to travel to Britain for an abortion, the pregnant mother has announced that she will give birth by medical inducement of labour and intends to bring the body of her child home for burial.
She explained. “I'll bury my child here. I have clothes bought for my baby. I'll be pregnant next year”. In an interview, Miss D said she will always see the baby as her first child and has chosen the name of the baby. She said that she will buy doll’s clothes for the child’s burial.
The news media emphasized repeatedly that an anencephalic child can live only a short time outside the womb. Miss D has responded, “I think most people think that I must be very silly and that this baby is not much. But this baby means the world to me.”
Miss D credits pro-life websites for her change of heart. “There were pictures of babies who had been aborted,” she said. “I didn’t want that, my baby deserved to live, it deserved more than that.”
When a test showed that her child suffered anencephaly, a condition in which the brain does not fully develop, Miss D had resolved to abort. Although Ireland has constitutional protections for the unborn, precedents have been set in the past for minors under the care of the Health Services Executive (HSE) to travel to Britain for abortions. In England, abortion for “severely disabled” children has no legal time limit.
The HSE tried to prevent the girl from leaving the country to abort her child, but Mr. Justice Liam McKechnie ruled “firmly and unequivocally” that there was no law or constitutional impediment preventing her travelling to England. After the decision, the HSE issued a statement apologising to Miss D for trying to prevent her from aborting her child and offered to pay the costs of travel.
“The HSE regrets any distress arising for Miss D and her family. The matters at issue were not straightforward or simple in ascertaining this girl's best interests. The HSE will continue to offer Miss D all the care and support which it is in a position to make available.”
The HSE now announces that its senior managers will be meeting with state solicitors and senior gardai (police) officials to discuss changes in the organisation’s statutory powers in the light of the Miss D. decision.
Read previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
High Court Rules Irish Teenager may go to Britain to Abort Anencephalic Child
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/may/07050907.html
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 220 - 215
- Stupak Amendment to Health Care Bill Passes 240 - 194 Saturday Evening
- NY Times: Dems Banking on Later Squeezing Pro-Life Language Out of Bill in Committee
- USCCB Spokesman: "Definitely Not True" that Bishops Support Bill As it Stands
- TIME Got it Wrong - Prof. George Opposed Grandiose Kennedy Funeral
- Major Health Care Development - Pro-Life Stupak Amendment Vote OK'd for Saturday
- USCCB Condemnation Tears Facade off "Phony" Abortion Compromise for Health Bill
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholic Left
- Dirty Fighting on Abortion Funding: Word-Games and Health-Care Theatrics Boggle the Mind
- Commentary on November 6 News
- Note to LifeSiteNews Subscribers with Rogers email addresses
- New York Gov. Declares Nov. 10 Extraordinary Legislative Session for Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Washington's Pro-Family Amendment Effort Defeated - R-71 Almost Certain to Pass
- Vote Pushed Back on Canadian Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Bill to Dec. 2
- Elderly U.K. Couple in Good Health Commit Suicide, Complain of Assisted Suicide Law
- Texas Late-Term Abortionist and Baptist Minister Admits: "Am I killing? Yes, I am"
- New Evidence Contradicts CCHD's Findings on Accused Pro-Abortion Partner
- Quebec Priest Denies Possibility of Sexual Reorientation Therapy on TV
- New Hampshire Same-Sex "Marriage" Law in Crosshairs after Maine's Law Crumbles
- Brooklyn Bishop Criticized for Recorded Message Praising Pro-Abortion Politician
- First Group of "Traditionalist" Anglicans in Britain Votes to Enter Catholic Church
Most Read this Week
- Planned Parenthood Director Resigns after Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure
- Nun Defiant Following Rebuke, but Stops Abortion Escorting
- Breaking: Dominican Community Apologizes for Nun Caught Acting as Abortion Escort
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholics Left
- Over 200 Christendom College Students Protest Abortion at Planned Parenthood Clinic
- US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 218 to 215
- Newly Identified Corporate Supporters of Planned Parenthood Named
- Scottish Gay Rights Activists Found Guilty of Pedophilia Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
- Major Health Care Bill Development - Stupak Hyde Amendment Vote OK'd
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.