The British Humanist Association (BHA) has reacted with disappointment to a European Court of Human Rights ruling on the abortion laws in the Republic of Ireland. The BHA has criticized the decision by the Court which, while upholding that reproductive choices are encompassed by the human right to privacy,  also found that this right could be infringed and overruled on the basis of the competing interests of wider societal views; in this case the religious beliefs of some within the Republic of Ireland.