The young woman, a foreign national with limited English, was not able freely to travel abroad for an abortion because of her legal status in Ireland.

READ: SHOULD PREGNANT DRUG ADDICTS BE CHARGED WITH ASSAULT AGAINST THEIR UNBORN BABY?

She discovered she was expecting about eight weeks into the pregnancy, and immediately sought an abortion because she had been the victim of a traumatic rape.

A friend of the woman told the Irish Times that she had said: "I do not want this. I am too young to be a mother. I am not ready."

Two psychiatrists and an obstetrician decided she was at risk of suicide but did not permit an abortion because the foetus was viable, the BBC reports.

WATCH: WOMAN FILMS HERSELF HAVING AN ABORTION TO PROVE IT 'ISN'T SCARY'

Desperate, she then went on a hunger and liquid strike.

READ: NEW ABORTION COMEDY FILM TO HIT CINEMAS THIS SUMMER

Local health authorities responded by obtaining a court order to deliver the baby prematurely via C-section – at about 25 weeks, according to some reports – to ensure its safety.

The infant has been placed in care; the status of the woman remains unknown.

The National Women’s Council of Ireland called the case “barbaric.”

Under an amendment to the Irish constitution in 1983, even an embryo after conception is officially an Irish citizen.

READ: MIRACLE BABY SURVIVES MISCARRIAGE AND ABORTION PILL

Doctors for Choice said the case underlined the inherent flaws in the 2013 act, which seeks to balance a woman's rights with those of a foetus.

"If a young rape victim, certified as requiring an abortion due to the risk of suicide, cannot access abortion services, then the legislation and its implementation are clearly fatally flawed.

"Repealing the eighth amendment in an urgent referendum and decriminalising abortion have now achieved emergency status."

[All photographs used in this article are stock library images]

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