Policing the press: censorship, family planning, and the press in Ireland, 1929–67

Abstract

ABSTRACT In 1929 the Irish state banned the publication of any information that advocated the prevention of conception. While much research has examined the cleansing of sexual matters from motion pictures and literature, the mechanics of how aspects of sexuality, in this instance birth control information, was excised from the most affordable, most widely available, and most easily purchased medium – the press – have received scant attention. This article examines the origins of, the implementation of, and the controversies that arose from the banning of birth control information from the press in Ireland. Through an examination of state and ecclesiastical archives – as well as contemporaneous press coverage – it outlines the mechanics utilised by state and religious actors to cleanse the press of such content. The archives demonstrate an acute sensitivity on the part of Catholic moral entrepreneurs to any mention, as distinct from advocacy, of birth control in the press. This sensitivity led to those tasked with implementing censorship going beyond their remit in terms of imposing official and unofficial bans on various publications. Such actions delayed for decades any meaningful public discussion of birth control with the inevitable consequences this had for women in pre-1970s Ireland.