Ireland’s high court is set to hear a case this month after a couple alleged that a clinic misled them about their unborn child’s health, leading to a decision to have an abortion, according to the Irish Times.
The High Court of Ireland has approved a hybrid hearing from the couple against private Dublin clinic Merrion Fetal Health, as well as the Greater Glasgow Health Board and the National Maternity Hospital, the Irish Times reported on Wednesday, accusing the defendants of failing to identify “a well recognized medical phenomena” for errant test results.
The counsel told the judge that the case was of “highest sensitivity” and also sought orders pertaining to discovery of information that needed to be exchanged, the Irish Times reported.
Ireland’s High Court will hear a case involving a couple who claim that their unborn child was aborted after they were mistakenly told that it had a fatal fetal abnormality. https://t.co/6DHMZ3th8m
— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) June 9, 2021
In the suit, according to the Irish Times, the unnamed female had a scan done in late February that showed no abnormalities and that the pregnancy was normal.
However, she received a phone call from one of the consultants and was told that the “Harmony Test,” a test conducted by a DNA sample, had showed the fetus was positive for Trisomy 18 syndrome, which could lead to abnormalities in newborns, the Irish Times reported.
The woman reportedly had a second scan which revealed no abnormalities, according to the Irish Times, but was advised to undergo a test open the placenta, which again revealed Trisomy 18 abnormalities.
The claim then goes on to say, according to the Catholic News Agency, after her consultant suggested the pregnancy was “non-viable” and that there was no point waiting for the Karyotype test results, she elected abort her pregnancy in mid-March. (RELATED: Planned Parenthood Abortion Numbers Hit 15-Year-High, Pro-Life Group Says)
Following the abortion, the Karyotype test results declared that the fetus had no evidence of Trisomy 18 and was healthy, according to the Catholic News Agency.
The defendants have denied any wrongdoing in the case, according to the Irish Times, and the case is listed to be heard around June 22.
Ireland voted to make abortion legal in a 2018 referendum, which allowed women to abort fetuses until the six month of pregnancy and if there is a fetal abnormality or if the mother’s life is threatened, despite declining birth rates at the time.