Saoirse Aylward has been promised by Fine Gael TDs Emer Currie and Barry Ward that a law named for her little son, Jax, will be drafted by the end of March. Jax died at 31 weeks in his mother’s womb as a result of careless driving causing a collision.

The perpetrator, Yurii Dudek, who has been sentenced to six months for careless driving, was distraught and remorseful. He took full responsibility for the baby’s death. Jax had a postmortem, a funeral and a stillbirth certificate.

None of this mattered under Irish law. Jax’s death could only be classified as an injury to Aylward, his mother. Already battered by grief, this was a further shock and deep suffering for Aylward and Jax’s father, Nathan Ferguson-Murphy, and their daughter.

Now Aylward and her family have been promised that this will not happen to another family, that the law will be changed to reflect the common sense recognition that even though he never lived outside her body, Jax existed. Someone should be held accountable for his death, and that of others like him.

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