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Attorney General (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children) v. Open Door Counselling Ltd. [1987] I.L.R.M. 477 is the 1988 case and ruling by the Irish High Court that found that freedom of expression and speech could not interfere with the "fundamental right" of an unborn child according to the Constitution of Ireland under the newly introduced Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland 1983. The Eighth Amendment is the Irish laws concerning the right to life and abortion laws.

Background
The Eighth Amendment of The Constitution of Ireland 1983 acknowledged the equal right to life for the mother and the unborn child in any event of pregnancy. Open Door Counselling Ltd. was a counselling service in Ireland providing pregnant woman a safe place to talk and discuss their pregnancy and to give them advice and information on their options such as abortion in the United Kingdom. Attorney General (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children) v. Open Door Counselling Ltd. challenged the right of the unborn child as Counselling Services were giving pregnant woman information about abortion clinics in the United Kingdom and giving them help and advice regarding travel arraignments. In Ireland, abortion is illegal according to the Irish Constitution as it takes away an unborn child's right to life.

Case
Society for the Protection of Unborn Children brought the defendant, Open Door Counselling Ltd., to court as they believed that in them distributing information on abortions and giving help and advice to their clients in Ireland, it was taking away the rights of the unborn child involved and was unconstitutional. The defendants claimed to be just distributing information and not actually caring out the act and therefore their right to freedom to expression and speech covered them.

Judgement
In December 1986, Mr Justice Hamilton ruled in favor of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, stating that a person's right to freedom of expression and speech could not hinder with the “fundamental right” to life of the unborn child. The High Court upheld the judgement of the Supreme Court that established that it was unlawfully Constitutional to distribute information on abortions in The United Kingdom. The Court held that the act of distributing information and assisting woman in abortions abroad was in violation of the Eighth Amendment in the Irish Constitution. The judgement stopped any information on abortions abroad being given out in Ireland and may counselling services completed stopped advice and information distribution on abortions in fear of being brought to court and shut down. This injunction was upheld by the Irish Supreme Court by Chief Justice Thomas Finlay

Reaction
Due to the ruling by the High Court, many counselling and agencies stopped giving information on abortions abroad in fear of being closed down or brought to court. This led to an underground helpline that was set up by the Women’s Information Network (W.I.N.) which was linked to Irish Women’s Abortion Support Group (I.W.A.S.G.), which was based in London, to give help, support, information and help with travel arraignments. These organisations worked with woman to provide these services in a way that was unseen by the government.

European Court of Justice
After the High Court ruled on the Open Door Counselling case the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child took legal action against student unions, such as Trinity College Dublin, Union of Students in Ireland (U.S.I.) and University College Dublin, because the distributed booklets and pamphlets on abortion to their student through a student handbook. The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child gained court orders from the High Court and the Supreme Court to stop the student handbooks from being distributed among their students. They intended to prosecute and jail four of the student officers from Trinity College involved in distributing the information before the High Court ruling. Mary Robinson, who at the time was the Senior Counsel member, defended the students and recommend the case be redirected to the European Court of Justice. In 1991, the European Court of Justice determined abortion as a service under European Common Law and stated that the restriction and control over the distribution of information in one member state was unlawful and a breach of European Common Law because it was available to all other member states in the European Union. Thus treating members and citizens of a member state differently than others. The act of abortion and the set up of clinics is up to the government of a country but the distribution of information is against the European Common Laws. The ruling from the European Court of Justice annulled the injunctions issued by the Supreme Court.

Link to European Court of Justice decision#

Link to European Court of Human Rights decision