Ten years after the High Court granted an injunction in the X case, what have been the long term effects of one of the most controversial cases in Irish legal history?
Miss X was a 14 year old girl who was staying with a friend's family while her parents went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. Her friend's father raped her and she became pregnant. The girl's family brought her to England to have an abortion. They asked local Gardaí if a sample of fetal tissue could be used as evidence of paternity in a case against the abuser. The question was referred to the Attorney General who took the view that he had an obligation to prevent the abortion from taking place given the commitment in the Irish constitution to the right to life of the unborn. The Attorney General asked the High Court for an injunction to prevent the girl from leaving the country for nine months.
The girl was named as Miss X and the case became known as the X case.
The girl and her family returned to Ireland having been told that legal proceedings would be taken against them. The High Court was told that Miss X was suicidal.
Gerry Whyte of the Law School at Trinity College Dublin, explains that the view of the High Court was that there were two rights to life and an injunction was granted. The case was appealed in the Supreme Court where the High Court decision was reversed. The Supreme Court came to the conclusion that the Irish constitution allowed a woman to have an abortion where there was a real and substantial risk to her life.
The girl was allowed to travel for an abortion but ended up having a spontaneous miscarriage in an English hospital.
The case had brought the issue of abortion back into the headlines and onto the streets.
Jack Jones of MRBI Opinion Polls describes the protests as a wave of sympathy for the young girl.
The X case was one of the primary reasons why support for abortion rose so quickly.
In November 1992, a referendum established the right to travel and the right to information about abortion.
Miss X and her family moved to a different part of Dublin and the man who abused her served three years in prison.
Senator Mary Henry, who is in touch with Miss X, says that she has not let what happened to her control her life.
She seems to have tremendous inner resources.
While the case is now closed, it has gone down in Irish legal history as one of the most controversial and significant legal decisions ever.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 15 February 2002. The reporter is Anne Marie Smyth.
