Irish court: End life support for pregnant woman
Source: AP-Excite
DUBLIN (AP) — Irish judges have ruled that life support should be removed from a brain-dead pregnant woman because her living 18-week-old fetus cannot survive to birth.
Friday's ruling was accepted by lawyers representing the rights of the woman and the unborn child, who in Ireland has a constitutionally protected right to life.
Ireland has the strictest anti-abortion laws in Europe. Doctors treating the woman had refused family requests to remove her from life-support machines after she was declared clinically dead Dec. 3, arguing they couldn't legally afford to withdraw support from the fetus inside her.
The court accepted testimony from seven doctors that the fetus "has nothing but distress and death in prospect." The woman was declared clinically dead four days after suffering a severe head injury in a fall.
FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 file photo, abortion rights activists hold candles and display pictures in memory of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old Indian dentist who died of blood poisoning after being denied an abortion in a Dublin hospital, during a protest rally outside Ireland's government headquarters in Dublin. A lawyer representing a 17-week-old fetus living inside the clinically dead body of its mother says the unborn child's right to life trumps the woman's right to a dignified death. Conor Dignam made his closing arguments Wednesday to three Dublin High Court judges who must decide whether Ireland's anti-abortion laws permit the woman's life support machines to be turned off. Their judgment is expected Friday. (AP Photo/Shawn Pogatchnik, file)
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141226/eu-ireland-abortion-524b6a36eb.html
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