An immigrant known as “Miss Y” sought asylum in Ireland on March 28, only to discover a few days later that she was pregnant after having been sexually assaulted in her home country. Because her legal status complicated her ability to travel to England for the termination, Miss Y was embroiled in a multi-week battle to obtain permission to travel that never materialized. When she became suicidal she was also unable to get certified for an abortion in Ireland. In August, she refused food and fluids and delivered via Cesarean section at 26 weeks, the Irish Times reported.

Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin told Ireland’s Newstalk radio show that this was “a much better outcome than abortion” although delivery by cesarean at 24 weeks “places the child more seriously at risk.” Bishop Doran also remarked about Ireland’s abortion law, “I don’t think that anybody has established the right of a mother to terminate the pregnancy because she feels that she’s at risk of suicide.”

The 2013 Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act allows for abortion if the woman’s life is in danger, though it requires three doctors to agree that a woman is at risk of suicide. Niall Behan, Chief Executive of the Irish Family Planning Association, wrote an opinion piece in Ireland’s The Journal in which he called the law “an appalling derogation by the State of its duty to ensure women’s dignity and human rights,” and concluded, “We must change the Constitution.”

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said to the Irish Examiner that no changes would be made to the abortion law “during the life time of this government,” a stance supported by only 31 percent of the population. A September poll conducted by Millward Brown for the Irish Independent found that 56 percent of respondents were in favor of holding a referendum to repeal the 8^th amendment to the Constitution, which declares “the right to life of the unborn.”