Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

This is the story of the notorious Miss X case - the Irish girl who was raped and denied an abortion in Ireland, and whose fate ultimately caused a referendum and changed the law. On a cold and inhospitable night in December 1991, a 42-year-old married man forced himself on a 14-year-old girl and planted the seed that was to become the most controversial foetus in the whole of Irish history. The extraordinary case in the Irish High Court and the injunction to stop the post-rape abortion became a cause celebre for radicals, doctors and politicians. The political and legal ramifications of this most tragic human story is researched and told by journalist and author Wendy Holden, a writer for "The Daily Telegraph", who has had access to and co-operation from all the chief protagonists in the case.
 
This is the story of the notorious Miss X case - the Irish girl who was raped and denied an abortion in Ireland, and whose fate ultimately caused a referendum and changed the law. On a cold and inhospitable night in December 1991, a 42-year-old married man forced himself on a 14-year-old girl and planted the seed that was to become the most controversial foetus in the whole of Irish history. The extraordinary case in the Irish High Court and the injunction to stop the post-rape abortion became a cause celebre for radicals, doctors and politicians. The political and legal ramifications of this most tragic human story is researched and told by journalist and author Wendy Holden, a writer for "The Daily Telegraph", who has had access to and co-operation from all the chief protagonists in the case.