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                                                                                WORLD, Page 33

IRELAND

A Case of Blind Justice


Barring a teenage rape victim from seeking an abortion abroad,
a court ignites a debate on privacy and the church

By MICHAEL S. SERRILL -- Reported by Helen Gibson/London


    It is a classic case of compassion versus the law. And so
far, in an abortion controversy that has rocked Ireland and
outraged much of Europe, the law has the upper hand. The
controversy involves a 14-year-old girl who was allegedly raped
by her best friend's father. Last week a high-court judge barred
the teenager from traveling to Britain to get an abortion, even
though the victim, now 12 weeks pregnant, has declared that she
would rather kill herself than have the child.

    The decision, which is being appealed to the country's
Supreme Court, sparked protests across Ireland and Britain.
Hundreds of demonstrators marched in Dublin and London, carrying
placards reading RAPISTS-1, WOMEN-0 and IRELAND DEFENDS MEN'S
RIGHT TO PROCREATE BY RAPE. Human-rights advocates declared that
the ruling violated a European Community law allowing citizens
to travel to another E.C. nation to obtain legally available
services such as abortion. Roman Catholic Ireland is alone among
the 12 E.C. members in imposing a total ban on abortion.

    Judge Declan Costello, in a lengthy ruling, argued that
the E.C. stricture did not apply to moral questions like
abortion. He said he had no choice but to follow the law, though
it might be "very painful, distressing and tragic for the girl
and her family." The judge labeled the perpetrator, who had
allegedly molested the girl for two years before raping her in
December, as "depraved and evil," adding that the traumatized
victim "wanted to kill herself by throwing herself down the
stairs."

    Outrage over the case has been intensified by the fact
that the alleged culprit has not been arrested, reportedly
because the only evidence police have is the word of the victim.
Ironically, it was in an effort to help the police gain more
evidence that the girl's parents put themselves at odds with the
state. After arranging to travel to London for an abortion, the
parents asked police whether a tissue sample from the fetus
could be used as a "genetic fingerprint" that would positively
identify the rapist. The inquiry made its way to Attorney
General Harry Whelehan, who judged himself duty-bound to stop
the family from breaking Irish law.

    Abortion has been illegal in Ireland since the 1860s. When
pressure to moderate the law began rising in the 1970s and early
'80s, the Catholic Church and antiabortion activists pushed the
government to hold a 1983 referendum incorporating the ban into
the constitution. After a bitter campaign, the pro-lifers won
the vote by a two-thirds majority. The resulting constitutional
amendment obliges the government "to respect . . . defend and
vindicate" the right to life of the unborn. No exceptions are
allowed except in some cases where the mother's life is in
danger.

    In addition to banning abortions, the government and
courts have forbidden pregnancy-counseling services to give
abortion advice, have tried to stop Irish student unions from
distributing information on abortion, and have even forced
libraries to remove books giving the names and addresses of
foreign abortion clinics.

    Until now, however, the government has done nothing to
prevent women from crossing the Irish Sea to obtain legal
abortions in Britain. At least 4,000 travel to London each year
to terminate pregnancies; an additional 2,000 arrive from
Northern Ireland, where abortion laws are less liberal than in
the rest of Britain. "Now they are afraid they will be reported
to the police," said Rita Burtenshaw, director of the Dublin
Well Woman Center, a pregnancy-counseling service in Dublin. "We
have young women calling in to say they are too scared to tell
anyone, including their parents. This is frighteningly
divisive."

    The court decision hurled the new Prime Minister, Albert
Reynolds, into a raucous political crisis less than a week after
he replaced Charles Haughey, who was forced to resign over
allegations about his part in a 10-year-old telephone-tapping
scandal. Reynolds held a series of meetings with leaders of his
ruling Fianna Fail Party, but could reach no consensus on what
course to take. Yet the Prime Minister seemed to rule out any
help for the rape victim. Said he: "I do not believe that the
people of this country want, or deserve, a situation of nods and
winks in the application of the law."

    President Mary Robinson, a figurehead who by tradition
avoids comments on political affairs, said she sympathized with
the "hurt, bewilderment and helplessness" felt by women
throughout the country concerning the case and called abortion
a "problem we have to resolve."

    Activists seeking to reform rules on abortion could not
agree more. "Victims of rape now face a double ordeal, which
puts the credibility of Irish law in doubt," said Jon O'Brien
of the Irish Family Planning Association. "Abortion is a
reality for Irish women, even if the constitution should say
differently." For now, the constitution does say differently,
and no political efforts to change it can lessen the injustice
done, in the name of the law, to an innocent teenage girl.