by CLAIRE MCCORMACK
CREDIT/William Murphy/infomatique on Flickr
Ireland awaits a September report on its abortion laws by a European Court of Human Rights panel of experts at a time of rising political tensions over the issue and a backdrop of steep declines in the popularity of religion.
In Ireland, 84 percent ticked the Catholic box in Census 2011, while other data indicates that the ability for the church to enforce its doctrines is dropping significantly. How that will affect the nation’s no-exceptions abortion laws remains uncertain.
The European panel is currently reporting on Irish abortion laws after a 2010 judgment by the European Court of Human Rights that said the rights of a woman with cancer had been violated because she had to travel outside Ireland for an abortion.
The advisory report will examine the 2010 European Court of Human Rights judgment, which found the rights of women had been breached by failure to allow an exception on the abortion ban in cases that endangered the woman’s life.
On the sidelines of the government, the boundaries are clearly drawn between Catholic authorities and pro-choice leaders.
“The decline in interest in religion in Ireland has serious implications for the pro-life movement in the country,” said Liam Gibson in a phone interview. He is the Northern Ireland spokesperson for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children and long-time observer of the religious situation in Ireland, “It is not simply the loss of faith in Irish society which will affect the pro-life message but the change in the culture’s view of human life which will be decisive.”
Gibson believes, however, it would be wrong to exaggerate support for changes in the law, even though advocates of legalized abortion occupy more positions than ever in the government and the country.
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