A Supreme Court case gets underway today to decide the extent of the constitutional rights of the unborn.
The State is appealing against a High Court finding that the word 'unborn' in the constitution means 'child' - giving babies in the womb protection beyond the 8th Amendment.
The ruling arose out of the case of a Nigerian man facing deportation while his partner was pregnant in Ireland.
He successfully argued his unborn child had the right to have its father stay in the country - despite not yet being born.
