The High Court has been told the life of a mother and her child is so important the Health Service Executive (HSE) has a right to maintain a policy of refusing home births in certain circumstances.

Expectant mother Aja Teehan - a university lecturer based in Kilkenny - is challenging a refusal by the HSE to facilitate a home delivery with assistance from a self-employed midwife.

Aja Teehan is 29-weeks pregnant and wants a home birth with assistance from an independent midwife.

However because she previously had a caesarean section the HSE will not provide indemnity cover for a midwife attending a home delivery because of a small but serious risk of uterine rupture.

The NUI Maynooth lecturer believes the risk in her case is minimal and is arguing that the blanket HSE policy breaches her rights under the Constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights.

In response lawyers for the HSE has argued it is a rational policy, based on medical evidence.

The court has been told there is no legally enforceable right to a home birth and the HSE should not be compelled into a practice it does not believe is safe.