Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan and his wife Helen have joined Amnesty International to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Irish constitution, adding their voices and termination story to change what the couple describes as “Ireland’s barbaric abortion laws.”
In an interview with The Guardian published today, the co-creator of the 1990s sitcom Father Ted and his wife tell how Helen became pregnant in 2004 shortly after their wedding. But following a routine scan at 12 weeks, doctors informed the couple that the foetus Helen was carrying had developed acrania, a fatal-foetal abnormality meaning the baby's skull had not fully closed. The diagnosis meant their child could not survive outside of the womb.
“It was very traumatic sitting in a waiting room with heavily pregnant women, knowing that this little flutter in my tummy was not going to survive,” Helen explains in a video produced for Amnesty International. A few days later, doctors terminated her pregnancy.
“I don’t think it is safe for women in Ireland to be pregnant," Graham tells the Guardian. "Abortion is an important medical procedure and when that’s taken off the table, then you’re not safe. A place without abortion puts two lives in danger, not one.
“In Ireland, Helen would be a criminal to have undergone the termination. She would have had to carry the child knowing it would die in great pain shortly after she had given birth to it. I have always been very proud to be Irish but I am embarrassed by Ireland’s abortion laws. This is just something you can’t be proud of. It’s barbaric.”
The Linehans, who have gone on to have two children in the years since, have now collaborated with Amnesty International on Chains, a short campaign film narrated by actor Liam Neeson created as part of the Repeal the Eighth Amendment movement.
You can watch the video below:
