The report in yesterday's editions of The Irish Times that the Garda is investigating a complaint of an alleged abortion in a Dublin clinic has provoked a depressingly familiar response. The anti-abortion movement has seized on the incident to press its case for another constitutional referendum. And, for the most part, the politicians, fearing that abortion might become an election issue, have run to ground. Even though there is no legal case pending, the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, is sheltering behind the thrust of the sub judice rule and making no comment. The Opposition parties, at this writing, also have little to contribute.
That said, it must be acknowledged that the full facts of this case have still to be established. From what is known, it appears that the woman in question attended the clinic in 1995 but the complaint which prompted the Garda investigation was not made until earlier this year. The precise circumstances which led the woman to complain to the Garda are also unclear. Apparently, she suffered medical complications, but the nature of these - and whether they were physical, psychological or both - is unclear. And critically, it is not known if the Supreme Court judgment in the X case - which allows abortion in circumstances in which there is a danger to the life, as distinct from the health of the mother - has a bearing on this case.
No sensible person, of course, would endorse a situation in which the clinic acted on its volition in clear breach of both the criminal law and the guidelines set by the Medical Council. But the woman may have presented in circumstances which the clinic believed were comparable to that which would allow abortion under the X case judgment.
Of course, it should not be left to an individual clinic to interpret a court judgment. The case for clear, unambiguous legislation on abortion is clear-cut - indeed the X case judgment put the onus squarely on the legislature to address the issue, successive governments, to their great shame, have run scared. In an echo of another, darker period in Irish public life, abortion with its immense human and moral complexities, is much too contentious to be faced.
But the abortion issue will not melt away. The current investigation under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, under which the Garda `raided' the offices of a Dublin clinic, can only achieve a very limited purpose. The reality of women's lives in this State will still have to be addressed.
In all of the current controversy, there is also the noxious whiff of hypocrisy. The full panoply of the State is now being directed against a Dublin clinic for one alleged abortion, but the trail of Irish women going to Britain for abortion continues to build. In the first six months of last year, some 2,500 Irish women travelled to Britain for abortions. Some of us might like to congratulate ourselves that we have banished the dirty business of abortion from Irish shores; but will we accept indefinitely the moral evasion of simply exporting our abortion cases to Britain?