KEY POINTS:
The authorities in the Republic of Ireland are embroiled in complex legal proceedings centring on a teenage girl who wishes to travel to the UK to abort a foetus which cannot survive outside the womb.
The 17-year-old, who is four months pregnant and can only be identified as Miss D, sought an abortion after discovering the baby she is carrying suffers from a brain condition which means she would live for only three days after birth.
Ireland's highly complex abortion laws only allow abortions in cases where the mother might commit suicide, which is not a danger in this instance.
The authorities are arguing she should not be allowed to travel to the UK. The Irish Attorney-General has meanwhile appointed a lawyer to represent the unborn child.
Ireland has staged several referendums designed to clarify abortion law, and the case has attracted the attentions of both pro-life and pro-choice factions.
- INDEPENDENT
