Amnesty International Calls For Ireland’s Law On Abortion To Be Changed

Amnesty International has called for the legislation surrounding abortion in Ireland to be changed. According to RTÉ the human rights organisation, who launched their 'My Body My Rights' campaign in Ireland on Tuesday, stated that the country’s current abortion laws are putting the lives of women and girls in Ireland at risk on a daily basis.

#Ireland's #abortion laws are some of the toughest in the world. Time to change: http://t.co/8HB0ave1eZ #Repealthe8th pic.twitter.com/VpJxIyKLlY

— Amnesty Int'l NI (@AmnestyNI) June 9, 2015

The organisation stated that women in need of abortion in Ireland are currently being treated like criminals and declared the country’s laws on abortion as some of the most restrictive in the world. RTÉ has reported that Amnesty also stated that women’s human rights are being violated because of "a Constitution that treats them like child-bearing vessels."

'I honestly believe Irish people will be shocked that we are doing this to our daughters, sisters, mothers' @Colmogorman #notacriminal — Amnesty Ireland (@AmnestyIreland) June 9, 2015

The organisation has published a 112-page report, 'She’s not a Criminal: The Impact of Ireland’s Abortion Law', which details dozens of “shocking” cases of Irish women who have been denied an abortion by authorities here. Amnesty has also stated that under international human rights law, women have the right to abortion in cases of rape, a risk to their health or severe or fatal foetal impairment. Ireland, Andorra, San Marino and Malta are the only European countries in which this is not the case.

.@amnestyonline stressing again that, from a human rights perspective, Ireland's #abortion law one of worst in world. pic.twitter.com/u9Km2RSYxZ — Mark Kelly (@Blackhall99) June 9, 2015

"We need to decriminalize abortion in Ireland,” said Colm O’Gorman, CEO of Amnesty International Ireland. “Any woman or girl in Ireland who accesses an abortion outside of the very narrow legal framework can face up to 14 years in prison – the same goes for the medical practitioner. “Yet, our constitution permits women and girls to travel overseas to do something that if they did in Ireland they could go to prison for 14 years." (Images via Amnesty International/Twitter.)