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| Irish teen wins abortion battle | Irish teen wins abortion battle |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| An Irish teenager has won a High Court battle in Dublin to be allowed to visit Britain for an abortion. | An Irish teenager has won a High Court battle in Dublin to be allowed to visit Britain for an abortion. |
| The 17-year old was told by doctors her four-month foetus would not live more than a few days beyond its birth. | The 17-year old was told by doctors her four-month foetus would not live more than a few days beyond its birth. |
| She is in the care of the Irish Republic's health service, which had issued an order stopping her from going to Britain. | She is in the care of the Irish Republic's health service, which had issued an order stopping her from going to Britain. |
| Abortion is illegal in the Republic except when the mother is threatened by a medical condition or a suicide risk. | |
| Thousands of Irish women get around the ban by privately travelling to the UK, where abortion was legalised in 1967, to undergo terminations. | Thousands of Irish women get around the ban by privately travelling to the UK, where abortion was legalised in 1967, to undergo terminations. |
| The Irish Republic has a constitutional ban on abortion, but in 1992 made it legal to receive information about foreign abortion services and to travel for abortions in Britain. | |
| The High Court has now ruled there were no statutory or constitutional grounds for preventing the teenager, known only as Miss D in court, from travelling to the UK for the operation. | |
| Legal arguments | |
| Justice Liam McKechnie had heard arguments over the past week from three sides. | |
| These were the girl and her estranged mother, who both approve of the abortion; her legal guardians at the Health Service Executive (HSE) - the republic's national health service, which opposed the abortion at first but has since altered its position; and lawyers appointed by Attorney General Rory Brady to represent the right to life of the foetus. | |
| The teenager comes from the Leinster region and has been under the guardianship of the HSE since March. | |
| Doctors said Miss D's foetus has anencephaly, a condition which means that a large part of the brain and skull is missing. | Doctors said Miss D's foetus has anencephaly, a condition which means that a large part of the brain and skull is missing. |
| Babies with anencephaly live a maximum of just three days after birth. | Babies with anencephaly live a maximum of just three days after birth. |