‘With Foolish Optimism We Thought It Was Just a Miss’: Marriage, Sexuality, and Unwanted Pregnancies in Twentieth-Century Ireland

Abstract

Much of the scholarly focus of Irish sexuality in the twentieth century has been on ‘sexual non-conformity’: sex outside of marriage, rape and coercion, and abuse. While these are essential topics, particularly given the historical incarceration and containment of sexual ‘others’, they are only part of the story. This article analyses married couples’ sexual lives in Ireland from 1900 to 1950. Utilising criminal abortion trial records, it sheds light on marital sexual practices and reproductive decision-making. Abortions were not only accessed by those who broke sexual norms but also by those whose sexual practices were more conformist: heterosexual committed couples, most of whom already had other children. While the criminal courts depicted abortion-seeking women as docile, women were far from passive in abortion decision-making. Committed couples worked together to manage unwanted pregnancies. This reality rejects the notion of a uniquely Irish sexual purity and complicates representations of married women as oppressed and even sexually naïve. Most couples actively collaborated in managing their sexual lives, receiving support from friends and families. Early twentieth-century popular views of sexuality, then, could be flexible and permissive.
 
 Keywords: Abortion; Sexuality; Fertility, Family Planning; Reproductive Decision-making; Marriage