Abstract
The 8th Amendment, Ireland’s constitutional ban on abortion, may be viewed as a prism through which shifting ideas about women and sexuality in Irish society can be understood. How did Ireland move from being the first country in the world to offer constitutional protection to the ‘unborn’, to a country that enthusiastically voted to support abortion as a legitimate choice in pregnancy at a time when, internationally, the tide appears to be shifting towards more restrictive abortion regimes? This article offers a comparative study of two referendum campaigns; the feminist-led Anti-Amendment Campaign that organised to oppose the introduction of the amendment in 1983; and Together for Yes, the 2018 campaign to remove the amendment. Focusing on these two campaigns will allow an exploration of how over the course of 35 years’ abortion moved from being a one dimensional ‘moral’ issue to a multi-dimensional political and social question that reflected changing attitudes to sexuality and the role of women in public life. This article examines the political compromises the campaigns made, highlighting the lessons that can be taken forward in order to achieve a more emancipatory discourse of reproductive agency both in Ireland and internationally.
Highlights
Resistance to the 8th Amendment would shape the struggle for abortion rights in Ireland, culminating in the successful May 2018 referendum which saw its deletion from the Constitution and the legalisation of abortion on request six months later, on 1st January 2019
Over the course of three decades, abortion activists in Ireland have found themselves in a position where they have been forced to adapt their organising to the demands of the referendum campaign
12 This figure is calculated from public anonymous data collected by the UK Department of Health Statistics and it refers to women resident in Ireland who travelled to both England and Wales to access abortion services
Summary
The text of the Irish constitution may only be changed by a referendum of the people. The existence of a broad-based liberal campaign did not preclude independent right to choose opposition to the amendment, and so the split that occurred seems, in retrospect, to have been unnecessary and unfortunate (1984: 14) This figure is calculated from public anonymous data collected by the UK Department of Health Statistics and it refers to women resident in Ireland who travelled to both England and Wales to access abortion services. These arguments are fundamental to an informed and balanced opposition to the amendment, they do not relate to the practical problems of women living in present day Ireland ....’ (The Irish Times, 15 July 1982) From this point onward, if one examines the press statements issued by AAC, they all largely emphasise the politico-constitutional issues and ignore abortion itself. Faced with all the complexities of a real-life case involving a 14-yearold suicidal rape victim, the anti-abortion consensus collapsed, and conservative forces discovered that they were unable to hold back the tide of secularisation that was relentlessly making its presence felt in Irish society; the X case had irrecoverably changed public opinion on abortion, it would be a further twenty-five years before the 8th Amendment was removed from the constitution
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