Irish abortion debate reflects growing church-state tensions
religionnews.com, Mar 27, 2013, by Sarah Parvini
DUBLIN, Ireland (RNS) Ruth Bowie was in the throes of grief when she found out she would never know her unborn child. At the 12-week mark, a pregnancy scan showed the baby had anencephaly, a fatal condition in which a portion of the brain and skull never form.
Bowie, 34, a pediatric nurse, knew the implications of the birth defect even before the doctor explained. But the life-changing news didn’t stop there.
“The doctors said we will continue to look after you, or else you can choose to travel,” she recalled.
Put another way, if she and her husband wanted to seek an abortion, they would have to travel to England to end the pregnancy.
Ireland’s stringent abortion laws made it impossible for her to terminate the pregnancy in her home country— and she refused to give birth to a child who had no chance of surviving outside the womb.
Her husband, Michael O’Shea, supported her decision and flew with her to the U.K., though he was terrified of telling his devout Catholic parents. When O’Shea and Bowie returned to Dublin, he told them she had a miscarriage. It wasn’t until his wife went public with her story last year that he told them the truth.
Bowie’s experience highlights the struggle between religious morals and secular rights in what was once considered the most Catholic country in the world. Under Irish law, abortion is legal only if the mother’s life is at risk.
“You give me news that the baby we very much want is going to die, and now I have to go to another country,” Bowie said. “It’s like kicking you when you’re down.”
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