“From the point of view of Catholic teaching in general medical ethics, there is no obligation to use extraordinary means to maintain a life. That applies both to the woman and to the child.
“A woman can’t be, isn’t simply an incubator, the relation between a woman and a child is a relationship and it is very clear that one has to look at what stage is this foetus, what are the possibilities, is it even right to use extraordinary means to prolong that life if it is not going to move.”
“I mean there are cases, for example, it happens very sadly, in car accidents where a pregnant woman is kept alive so the child is born. Each of these cases has to be looked at individually, this is a very different case. I would hope, it’s a pity that all of these [cases] come to the courts to be decided. The medical profession, it should be, within the area of, but there seems to be a polarisation and a fear that things will go wrong, that they’ll have difficulty legally or with the insurance and so on.”
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin speaking to Pat Kenny on Newstalk earlier this morning.
Meanwhile, Fiona Londras writes on the Human Rights In Ireland blog:
“One important question for the High Court today, then, will be whether or not sustaining life for the amount of time required to vindicate the right to life of the foetus is practicable. In this respect, medical evidence as to the point at which delivery would be safe will be important. Whether or not the Court takes into account the statistical likelihood of survival and statistical likelihood of severe disability to help to determine the point of appropriate intervention (barring any medical emergencies in the meantime) will be especially interesting, but these certainly seem to me to be important elements in determining practicability.”
“Questions of proportionality are also likely to arise and to be influenced by these considerations as to medical practice. Even if the right to life is a pre-eminient right, the Court will surely ask whether the interferences with the woman’s constitutional rights in order to vindicate the foetal right to life are proportionate. The question of proportionality will come down, in all likelihood, to a determination of the extent of the interference which implicates matters of how long her life will have to be sustained considered by reference to the likelihood of optimal health outcomes for the foetus.”
“In short, the High Court today (and, perhaps, the Supreme Court on appeal tomorrow) will have to make a decision as to just how long a hand the 8th Amendment reaches into medical care in this country. It is clear that this is not a case that is governed by the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013. That Act deals only with situations in which there is a risk to the life of a pregnant woman that might be averted through abortion. This is clearly not such a case. However, the 8th Amendment is far broader than abortion, whatever its original intended reach might have been. The fact that medical professionals have felt utterly unable to make a medical decision to cease life support, with the support of the patient’s family, because of the legal uncertainty that surrounds the life of a foetus which is at such an early point of gestation as to be far from viable sharply illustrates the consequences of having constitutionalised the ban of abortion through the use of such far-reaching language.”
Archbishop of Dublin says a woman “isn’t simply an incubator” (Newstalk)
Foetal life, natural death and the 8th amendment (Human Rights in Ireland)
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