Pro- Life groups in Ireland have expressed both dismay and deep concern at the new shape of the Irish Supreme Court given the recent nomination of High Court judge Justice Liam McKechnie, to the Court, to replace Justice Hugh Hugh Geoghegan, who retired recently.
The Irish government decision to nominate Judge McKechnie to the Supreme Court is particularly worrying in light of the appointment of barrister Dónal Ó Donnell straight from the Irish Bar to the Court, given that O'Donnell argued against recognising the right to life of an anecephalic child in the “D” case in 2007. Barristers argued in that case that Baby “D” deserved no legal protection because his/her condition meant he/she was not an "unborn person".
Pro-life concerns stem from the fact that Judge McKechnie’s ruling in the same case, the “D” case was highly controversial. In particular his description of the baby at the centre of the “D” case as “an aberration of nature” was widely condemned at the time by pro-life groups and disability groups.
Pro-life dismay in respect of the most recent Supreme Court nominees relates in particular to the fact that the well-funded abortion industry has a long history of using the courts in their attempts to overturn pro-life laws,
see also Youth Defence article
