The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commissions Application: In the Matter of an Application for Judicial Review by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission In the Matter of the Law on the Termination of Pregnancy in Northern Ireland [2015] NIQB 96: High Court of Justice Northern Ireland (Queens Bench Division): Horner J: 30 November 2015

Graffin, Neil (2016). The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commissions Application: In the Matter of an Application for Judicial Review by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission In the Matter of the Law on the Termination of Pregnancy in Northern Ireland [2015] NIQB 96: High Court of Justice Northern Ireland (Queens Bench Division): Horner J: 30 November 2015. Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, 5(1) pp. 168–182.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ojlr/rwv062

Abstract

Human rights – Right to family and private life – Freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment – Interference with – Termination of pregnancy, except to save mother’s life or if continuation would make her a ‘physical or mental wreck’, constituting criminal offence in Northern Ireland – Maximum penalty life imprisonment – Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission claiming law criminalizing abortion in cases involving serious malformation of the foetus (SMF), including a fatal foetal abnormality (FFA), or as a result of rape and incest (sexual crime) infringing fundamental human rights and seeking declaration that existing law incompatible with human rights legislation – Whether law criminalizing abortion for cases of SMF, FFA, or sexual crime infringement of right to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment – Whether infringement of right to private life – Criminal Justice Act 1945, s 25 – Offences Against the Person Act 1861, ss 58, 59 – Human Rights Act 1998, Sch 1, arts 3, 8 – European Convention on Human Rights, arts 2, 3, 8, and 14