This is where the EU starts to get interesting. In the past, issues could be buried by the system in any particular country. It's not possible to do any longer. The EU has played an important role in business changes (emphasizing competition, for example) and it appears as though it could be ready to make other changes for the better as well. This decision is not going to legalize abortion as it stands in the rest of the EU but it will be a positive change, if it succeeds.
Three women, named only as A, B and C, brought a landmark case before the European Human Rights court in Strasbourg, the outcome of which could force Ireland to weaken its strict laws against abortion for the first time in 17 years.
The three plaintiffs – two Irish women and a Lithuanian – say that their own rights to health and life were threatened by pregnancies which they could not terminate legally in Ireland the only EU state other than Malta, with a near outright ban on the procedure. Like an estimated 7,000 Irish women a year, the three women travelled to the UK to obtain legal abortions in Britain.
