At the Supreme Court sitting in Limerick this morning

This morning.

The Supreme Court, sitting in Limerick, delivered a judgment about the extent of the rights of the unborn.

It followed an immigration case involving a Nigerian man, his Irish partner and their child, who was 20 days away from being born when the case began in May 2016.

The man wanted a deportation order made against him by the Department of Justice to be revoked and argued that the Minister for Justice had to consider an unborn child’s existing or prospective rights.

Mary Carolan, in The Irish Times, reports:

The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the unborn has no constitutional rights outside the right to life in the Eighth Amendment.

In a landmark judgment on Wednesday, the seven-judge court ruled the High Court was wrong to find the unborn has constitutional rights outside Article 40.3.3 and was also wrong to find the unborn is a child within the meaning of Article 42a.

However, it upheld findings by the High Court that the Minister for Justice is required to consider the prospective constitutional rights of an unborn child when considering whether or not to deport their non-Irish citizen parent.

The decision clarifies the constitutional position of the unborn in advance of this summer’s planned referendum on Article 40.3.3, which guarantees equal protection for the right to life of the unborn and its mother.

Supreme Court rules only constitutional right of unborn is right to life (The Irish Times)

Pics: RTE

The ruling can be read in full here