Abstract

PIP: On October 4, 1991 the European Court (EC) handed down a decision upholding the right of the Irish courts to prohibit the distribution of information on the availability of abortion services in another European Community state, provided that the information was not distributed on behalf of an economic operator established in the other member state. The matter ended up in the EC when the High Court of Ireland asked for a preliminary ruling in a case involving the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) and officers of a student group that had no ties to abortion clinics in the UK. The EC was first asked to determine if medical termination of pregnancy constituted a service within the meaning of Article 60 of the European Community Treaty, which it did so rule. The next question was whether restriction of information about abortion clinics constituted restriction on the freedom to supply services according to Article 59; but the link between the students and the clinics was too weak. The students were not acting in concert with the clinics but were merely providing their names and addresses. The defendants maintained that the ban restricted their right to express themselves freely under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights; however, the court ruled that it had no jurisdiction with regard to national legislation lying outside the scope of European Community law.