Late last week, reports surfaced that the High Court had granted an application submitted by the HSE a month ago to terminate the pregnancy of a minor after concluding that she was not capable of making the decision herself.

The HSE submitted the application in October after mental health specialists argued that the continuation of the pregnancy posed a risk to the teenager’s life.

The ruling was made when the girl, who is residing at an IPAS centre, was 14 weeks pregnant, placing her past the 12-week period during which abortions are permitted for any reason.

It was claimed in the application that the teenager had made a number of threats to harm herself if the pregnancy wasn’t ended.

It was reported by one national media outlet that the minor’s parents, citing religious and cultural beliefs, declined to give their formal consent to the abortion, yet raised no objection to the termination moving forward.

This tragic case evokes memories of the C case, that happened prior to Repeal, where a minor in care was brought to England for an abortion on identical grounds to what was presented to the High Court last month. The girl at the centre of the C case ended up deeply regretting the abortion and went public to say that she developed serious mental health issues to the point of becoming suicidal when she realised that her baby was dead.

Among the many individual travesties created when the new abortion law was drafted was the provision in it that provides for abortion on mental health grounds – despite the numerous peer-reviewed studies confirming that abortion itself heightens the risk of future mental health problems.

The obfuscation and outright refusal to openly discuss these studies in the lead-up to the 2018 referendum was proof, if any further proof were needed, that the campaign to change the law was motivated by factors other than genuine concern for women’s health and welfare.