The Fatal Foetal Abnormalities Bill, put before the Dáil by Wexford TD Mick Wallace (pictured), was defeated today. The final tally was 45 in favour and 95 against.

This result followed a decision by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny, made under considerable pressure, to allow a free vote by independent members of the Government on the issue. Among those said to have voted in favour of the bill are Minister for Transport Shane Ross, Super Junior Minister in the Department of Health, Finian McGrath and Minister of State for Training and Skills, John Halligan.

The bill was also supported by five Fianna Fáil TDs – Robert Troy, Niall Collins, Timmy Dooley, Fiona O’Loughlin and Lisa Chambers. Had all of Fianna Fáil voted against the government, the bill would have been passed.

The Government had been advised by the Attorney General, Máire Whelan, that the bill is unconstitutional, on the basis that it conflicts with the provisions of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution (1983). That advice and today’s decision must surely increase the pressure on the government to repeal the Eighth Amendment. A recent Red C opinion poll found that 87% of Irish people of voting age are in favour of expended access to abortion in Ireland.

The Dáil debate and decision have to be seen against the backdrop of the experience of Amanda Mellet. In 2011, she discovered that her pregnancy of 21 weeks involved a case of fatal foetal impairment, as a result of Edward’s Syndrome. Amanda wanted to have an abortion – but that was not permitted in Ireland.

She travelled to England, to have a termination in Liverpool Women’s Hospital, but after 36 hours of labour, she had to travel home without staying overnight – at which stage she was still bleeding.

Amanda subsequently made a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee, which argued that Ireland’s failure to allow abortion represented a violation of her human rights.

The determination made by the Committee in response to this complaint was absolutely clear: that Ireland’s prohibition on abortion had subjected Amanda Mellet to intense physical and mental suffering. It also stated that this country’s criminalisation of abortion had caused her shame and stigma, and that her suffering was made even worse by the barriers which make information about the healthcare options available to her difficult to access. The Committee also stated that Amanda had been subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. And they concluded that her right to privacy had been violated.

In addition, more generally, the Committee found that Ireland discriminates against women like Amanda, who choose to terminate pregnancies in cases of fatal foetal impairment, compared to women who decide to proceed with the pregnancy even after a fatal foetal impairment has been diagnosed. The latter receive public health care and insurance cover, whereas those like Amanda, who decide to have an abortion, have to bear the full cost themselves.

All told, it is a damning assessment of Ireland’s treatment of women.

“The Eighth Amendment needs to go,” Colm O’Gorman of Amnesty International says in an article in response, in the Irish Times today, “and a legal and healthcare framework be put in place that respects women’s and girls’ rights.”

The issue of the Eighth Amendment is also covered in an extraordinary interview with Trinity College Senator, Lynn Ruane, in the new issue of Hot Press.