A mood for change - Ireland’s strict abortion laws no longer in favour





More than a year since same-sex marriage was introduced to the Republic of Ireland the abortion debate has resurfaced.


In 1983 the Irish Constitution was revised to state the life of the mother and that of the unborn child were equal, this is the 8th Amendment.





one of the oldest pubs in DUBLIN PROUDLY DISPLAYS THE IRISH FLAG FOR ALL TO SEE. IMAGE AUTHORS OWN



Why have a law that doesn’t prosecute?


Since its implementation in 1983 there have been zero convictions under the 8th amendment. Ailbhe Smyth from The Coalition to Repeal the 8th says that doesn’t mean there will never be a conviction, it is difficult however to understand why legislation exists which is never implemented,


‘It’s for cosmetic reasons to make a point that Ireland in some kind of coherent identity, that the Irish state is opposed to abortion’.


Two recent cases however have incurred some kind of penalties. In Northern Ireland a 21 year old women who obtained the abortion pill online was given a three month sentence suspended for one year. She obtained the pills in 2014 when she was 19 and was reported to the police by her housemates soon after. This sentence will go on this women’s permanent record.


Maria Steen from the IONA Institute, when asked why the there are no prosecutions replied that often it is unnecessary. Ms Steen said she was in favour of discretion and leniency and was happy to leave the decision up to the judge to decide on a case by case basis.


A second woman from Northern Ireland is due to attend court in June after procuring the pills for her teenage daughter.


Sarah Monaghan from the Abortion Rights Campaign (ARC) says that the government hides behind the 8th amendment and is scared to actually prosecute someone under it for fear of backlash,


‘It’s one thing to have the law there but to actually prosecute a woman would be a whole other game’.

The rise in the availability of the abortion pill has now meant that customs in Northern Ireland have been told to seize any pills coming into the country. Pills headed for the Republic come in via Northern Ireland as well.

VICE News reported that between 2011 and 2014, at least 2,577 abortion pills were confiscated by customs officials.







An Irish solution to an Irish problem


As of 1992 is has been legal for women to travel abroad for a medical termination, most commonly Irish women travel to the UK.


Ms Monaghan says that Ireland has a big problem in accepting the realities of abortion in the country. Women access abortion services daily, just not in Ireland,


‘Bit of an Irish thing to sweep it under the carpet and pretend it’s not there and that’s exactly what the government has done for decades is pretend it’s not happening, send ten women a day elsewhere to do your shameful things somewhere else, easier for them to let it happen somewhere else which isn’t good enough’.


Instead of lowering the abortion rates in Ireland by making it illegal, it simply makes it more difficult for women. It often means that women who need the services look to travel abroad, or resort to other measures, the abortion pill for example.


From 2010-2014 almost 25,000 women from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland travelled to the UK for an abortion. This figure however does not count for all Irish abortions, not all women who travel to the UK give their information to clinics, some women also travel to places such as the Netherlands and this figure doesn’t take into account Irish citizens who obtain the abortion pill online.







Peader O’Grady from Doctors for Choice (DFC) explains that while the abortion pill is medically very safe complications can sometimes arise and due to illegality Ireland some women may not seek the medical treatment they need.


One of the founders of DFC back in 2002, Mr O'Grady says that as a child psychologist he has only certified a handful of women for a legal abortion in the country.


The abortion pill while a relatively new thing is growing steadily across Ireland. The pill is significantly cheaper than travelling for a termination.


Pills can be around 70 euros (60 British pounds), where as a clinic in the UK is around 1200 euros (1000 pounds) and for the procedure alone.


Mara Clark, founder of the Abortion Support Network (ASN) stated that since 2011 the use of the abortion pill has grown substantially. With their availability more prominent in Northern Ireland ASN are receiving less and less calls from there.


Ms Smyth from Repeal the 8th states that the option to travel for an abortion isn’t always a possibility for all women. Issues such as mobility, financial, citizenship papers, job and family commitments all limit women’s ability to access a safe medical abortion,


‘It’s discriminatory and therefor anti-equality, All kinds of reasons why women can’t go abroad, therefore there is a discrimination there, a very class based discrimination too’ Ms Smyth said.


ASN is based in the UK and helps to provide Irish women with information on abortion as well as support women with funding to travel to the UK to seek an abortion.


Ms Clark said the organisation receives calls from all kinds of women but mostly those who are from a lower socioeconomic bracket or more vulnerable women,


‘If they weren’t vulnerable they wouldn’t be contacting us’.


In 2015 648 women requested their services and 154 women were then funded by ASN to terminate pregnancies in the UK.







Amnesty International as part of their Red C poll found that 72% of people surveyed believe that the fact that women must travel for abortions unfairly discriminates against those who cannot afford to or are unable to travel.



Organizer for Reproductive rights, against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity (ROSA), Rita Harrold stated that claiming that women would ‘abuse’ the use of legal abortions in Ireland and the abortion pill as a means of contraception was just wrong,


‘It’s not something that women want to go through; the idea that women would use it in that way is fundamentally sexist’.


Mr O’Grady stated that government and church groups are acting as if women do not have the capacity to make up their own decisions about their own reproductive health,


‘It’s about control, control of fertility but it’s just a posh way of saying control of women which is another way of saying control of half the population’.







Separation of church and state



Ireland is a unique case; it is the only country in the democratic world that deems abortion to be illegal. Separation of church and state is an issue that filters through many institutions across Ireland, from educational institutions to hospitals.


Mr O’Grady stated that in political terms the Catholic Church collapsed in the 1980 and 1990’s. This was mainly due to the scandals involving sexual abuse carried out and then covered up by members of the Catholic Church,


‘Ireland’s enslavement by the Catholic hierarchy is just shameful’.


He went on to say that there has been a truly rapid decline in the Irish people’s adherence to the Catholic Church. However it is still very much a looming feature in Irish life,


‘If the culture of Catholicism has been broken the culture of conformity is very much alive’.


According to the census information taken in 2011, over the period 1972-2011, weekly church attendance by Irish Roman Catholics fell from 91% to 30%. From the period of 2006-2011 Irish people identifying of being a member of no religion increased by 44.8%.


In 2013 Irish Central reported that while census information stated over 80% of people in the republic report to be Catholic,


‘Only about 18 per cent of Irish people in the Republic were regularly attending Mass (in 2011), indicating a wide margin between those who claim to be Catholic and who are actively practicing’.







Other factors have contributed to a decline in Catholicism however such as migration which brings more people with differing religious beliefs to Ireland.


The Catholic Church’s unwavering views on topics such as marriage, divorce, contraception and homosexuality are becoming challenged more and more by the Irish people. This is evident with the 2015 referendum, which introduced same sex marriage to the Republic, a move that the church was undoubtedly against.


While the statistics speak for themselves Ms Smyth stated that Ireland’s relationship with the church is much more ritualistic, with people attending mass for ‘births, deaths and marriages’. Most individuals are much more open to listen to their own conscience when it comes to social matters; however Ms Smyth also says that Ireland can be a contradiction,


‘Technically a secular state, doesn’t mean we’re a secular society… it would be true to say Ireland has remained culturally quite a catholic country’.


Ms Harrold from ROSA says that the government and the Irish public has actually come a long way in terms of making decisions for themselves rather than simply following the church’s recommendations,


‘Historically we’ve actually moved very far forward, the civil partnership act was the first time the church said no don’t do that and the government did it anyway’.


According to Emer O’Toole, Irish studies professor and columnist for The Guardian and The Irish Times, Ireland's resistance to change certainly comes down to deeply rooted catholic traditions,


‘I believe that Ireland's abortion laws are a Catholic hangover in a secularising country. If you examine the main pro-forced birth groups in Ireland, they all have ties to the Catholic Church.’


In a report commissioned by the Archdiocese of Dublin found that that church participation over the next fifteen years doesn’t look positive. However baptisms specifically are predicted to remain somewhat consistent.


In 2015 Equate, Equality in Education conducted a poll that found that 46% of parents wouldn’t chose Christian schools for their children and one in five persons polled know of someone who baptised their child to help them gain access to a particular school.







Ms Monaghan from ARC says that often getting their message across to the younger generation is difficult because the church is so engrained in school life. Young people are often the most unaware of the 8th amendment and what it could mean for them, their girlfriend, their sister,


‘I have to say I’m often disheartened by young girls and their lack of interest in the whole issue. It’s not that they appear to be pro-life or anything their just ambivalent to the whole thing.’







The indoctrination of children into the Catholic Church begins early whether parents want this to be the case or not. With The Guardian reporting that more than 90% of Ireland’s primary schools are run by the Catholic Church.


Pro-choice groups across Ireland find the continuation of this trend troubling and many agree that if Ireland really wants to reduce its abortion rates sex education in schools needs to be revised.


Ms Harrold said that ultimately if the Irish government wants to change the way that abortion and reproductive health is dealt with in the country a myriad of things need to change,


‘If you want to actually reduce the abortion rate what you need to do is provide sex education and contraception freely available to those who need it, but also housing, also childcare, also destigmatising women having children outside of what some priest might think you should be doing’.


Both sides of the argument seem to be in agreement that health and maternity care needs to be strengthened in Ireland. Maria Steen of the pro-life group the IONA Institute stated that although she is very much for keeping abortion illegal she does point out that more support should be available in Ireland for perinatal care.


Archbishop Michael Neary stated that as a community Ireland should offer ‘mercy not judgement’ and that extending compassion and providing resources for women should be of paramount importance for the upcoming government.


Mr O’Grady from Doctors of Choice stated that one of their main jobs as an organization was to advocate for removing the pressure and confusion placed on doctors and medical professionals,


‘A women’s right to choose is not a medical issue, it’s a political issue it’s an issue of human rights…we want to take the politics out of medicine but also take the medicine out of politics’.


This is incredibly important for ensuring that the protection of women’s lives is not restricted by a law. This can be directly seen in the cases of Savita and Miss Y where both women exhibited high-risk signs that should have deemed them eligible for an abortion in Ireland.







Referendums and government intervention


Ms Smyth from Repeal the 8th says that although women’s rights have expanded considerably in Ireland, there is still a long way to go,


‘We’re now allowed to make up our own minds, we just aren’t allowed to make decisions about what to do about our pregnancies’.


As a former academic and creator of the women studies class at the University College Dublin, Ms Smyth has now been an active campaigner for women’s and LGBTI rights since the 1970’s.


Is a referendum really the best solution? Ms, O'Toole, stated that,


‘Even if we could convince the current Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil minority government to preside over a referendum, I would be very wary of how they'd handle it’.


In early 2016 a citizens assembly was announced, the chosen group will discuss the 8th amendment and provide the government with recommendations of how to procced with the issue.


In response Cora Sherlock, from the Pro Life Campaign said that the group was disappointed by possible assembly,


‘Our laws protect and respect human life…we shouldn’t be defensive about our laws’.


Ms Monaghan from ARC stated that the abortion debate can be used as a vote winner in elections for both sides.


Ms O’Toole, stated that most political and church views on abortion are completely out of step with public opinion,


‘I think that if you held a referendum to repeal the 8th tomorrow, promising legislature to provide for abortion in the case of rape, incest, fatal foetal abnormality and threat to the life or health of the mother, it would easily pass’.







Ms Smyth says there is absolutely a mood for change since the referendum on same-sex marriage in May 2015.

Since then pro-choice groups have focused their attention on the abortion laws in the country and many believe now is the time to act.


Some religious groups have even been more welcoming of the possible changes to legislation. Giving merit to some of the concerns about the restrictive nature of Ireland’s law, particularly around risk of suicide to the mother and fatal foetal abnormalities.


Church of Ireland Archbishop Michael Jackson stated that although he advocated for the rights of the unborn child he said that there are some instances where an abortion should indeed be an option.


There are always exceptions to the rule according to the Archbishop, when the continuation of the pregnancy ‘poses a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother’.


Heidi Good from the Methodist Church agreed and stated four circumstances whereby an abortion should be available,


‘First, where the mother’s life is at risk; second, where there is risk of grave risk of serious injury to her physical or mental health; third, in cases of gross abnormality where it is incapable of survival; finally, in cases of rape or incest.’


Health Minister, Leo Varadkar from the Fine Gael party stated they he would vote in favour of legalising abortion for fatal foetal abnormalities. These conditions would make the law ever so slightly less restrictive.


Maria Steen from the pro-life group the IONA Institute stated that she believes that even a foetus known to be able to survive outside the womb should still be brought to term to ‘die comfortably’.


Ms Steen on The Pat Kenny Show expressed that she believed that Amnesty International was ‘scare mongering’ in their approach to condemning the abortion laws in Ireland. Ms Steen said that just because the majority wants to do something doesn’t make it the right thing to do.


In February 2016 Amnesty International published a Red C poll which found that 87% of Irish residents want access to abortion expanded and 72% want it decriminalised.


Although there is little known about the assembly at this point, If and when assembly produces a bill apparently both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will allow their caucus to vote as they please. Usually members of parliament must vote in line with their party’s policy. However Ms Harrold believes that the idea is essentially undemocratic,


‘Fundamentally we wouldn’t like it to be a vote, we’d prefer if we could just have these rights and then people who want to avail of them can and people who don’t obviously don’t have to’.







Ms Harrold says that ROSA is one of the more radical and provocative pro-choice groups in the country.


This was evident when, in October 2015, ROSA took a bus across the Republic and Northern Ireland to hand out the abortion pill to those who wanted it. This was breaking the law. Members of ROSA also took the pill whether they were carrying a foetus or not was unknown to the crowd.


With public opinion generally positive to at least expand the terms of abortion in the country, Ms Smyth believes that now is the time to act,


‘What we’re effectively saying is that now is the time to go back to the electorate and to say do you want to repeal this amendment that is so dangerous for women’s lives’.


O’Toole in her article for The Guardian stated that after all the progress that pro-choice groups have made should they risk letting the government replace the 8th with another amendment? Stating that,


‘This would not be a stepping stone to abortion rights, but a roadblock’.


Calling the abortion law in Ireland as ‘antiquated and outdated’ Ms Smyth was still cautious about a possible victory because of Ireland’s history with the church and with some very active pro-life groups,


‘Would we win a referendum if it was called tomorrow? Just about. We still have work to do because the indoctrination process is so considerable’.


Ms Harrold believes that the citizen’s assembly will be used as stalling tactic from the government,


‘In reality is just a tactic by Finnel Fail to block the movement on abortion for the next possibly five years’.


Often party’s don’t want to make a clear stance for risk of losing the group of voters who are pro-choice.


Ms Monaghan was confident that generally most members of parliament are pro-choice but a concerned about making a definitive stance on the matter,


‘Not all members of the government are pro-life, not even close but they’re terrified of the church and of the pro-life community… politically it’s a case of not wanting to upset that voting section rather than a case of personal beliefs’.







Ms O’Toole in an article for The Guardian, stated that while 87% of the general population favour expanding access to abortion, only 4.5% of Fianna Fáil and 4% of Fine Gael members of parliament are in favour as well.


With public opinion to expand the terms of abortion growing as well as the rise of abortion pills, any future changes to legislation will have to adapt to these developments.


What seems most likely at this point is that the terms of the amendment might be extended to include fatal foetal abnormalities. With some members of pro-life and church groups already spoken out in favour of this, for the pro-choice groups this won’t be good enough. Ms Harrold makes ROSA’s standpoint very clear,


‘It’s imperative that the movement fights the government on this and fight for what we actually want because if we fight for less than we want we’ll never get anywhere’.





at a busy intersection in the middle of dublin city, a single man hold up passages from the bible. image authors own



*ALL CAPTIONS UNDER IMAGES ARE CLICKABLE TO FIND OUT MORE