An Irish solution to an Irish problem

Eighteen years into the 21st century and Ireland’s abortion debate rages on with yet another referendum due on 25th May; the 6th referendum to be held in an attempt to settle this contentious issue.

Abortion has always been illegal in Ireland under The Offences against the Person Act 1861, a UK statute which remained in effect even after Ireland became independent in 1922. However in the early 1980s the Catholic Church, fearing that perhaps it wasn’t illegal enough and that liberalisation of abortion laws in Europe could eventually extend to Ireland, began to push to have protection for the unborn placed into the constitution.

Enter the Eight Constitutional Amendment passed on the 8th September 1983 and causing mayhem and consternation ever since. The amendment was passed by 66.9% of the ballot, with only 53.67% of those eligible turning out to vote

This shocking and controversial piece of legislation gave Ireland one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe and meant effectively that pregnant women could be, and were, refused life-saving medicines or procedures if there was a chance it could endanger the life of the unborn child. The wording, described by the then Attorney General as ‘ambiguous and unclear’ led to substantial legal difficulties, six referendums, national and international legislation and to more than a generation of mental and physical suffering for Irish women.

But at least the soul of holy Catholic Ireland had been saved.

Not content with this victory, church activist groups set their sights on women’s counselling services and in 1986 SPUC ( Society for the Protection of Unborn Children ) were granted an injunction in the High Court against Open Door Counselling Ltd. and Dublin Wellwoman Centre Ltd prohibiting them from providing contact information for abortion clinics in other jurisdictions.

This bizarre ban on information meant that books, such as “Our Bodies Ourselves,” which contained information about abortion, were removed from the nation’s libraries and magazines such as Cosmopolitan which had adverts for abortion services had to be printed with blank pages. There was even an instance of an issue of the Guardian Newspaper with an advert for an abortion clinic being seized by the Gardai.
Only in Ireland folks, only in Ireland!

The ban was widely and openly defied with contact information for abortion clinics being posted throughout the country in phone boxes, women’s toilets, on billboards and hoardings and with many student’s unions also defying the ban. Reporters broadcasting live from public locations had to be careful lest someone would pop up in the background displaying a banned phone number.

And then in 1992 came the so-called X Case when the High Court granted an injunction preventing a 14-year-old rape victim from leaving the country for a period of 9 months, effectively interning her and forcing her to carry the pregnancy to term against her will.

This case understandably received considerable international attention and led to a huge explosion of anger and disbelief within the country. Denying pregnant women the right to counselling was one thing but interning them for 9 months, even for the docile Irish, was a bridge too far. Thousands took to the streets and kids walked out of schools in protest. The Supreme Court later over-ruled the decision on the basis that the 14-year-old was suicidal, leaving the pro-life movement up in arms and the government stuck between a rock and a hard place.

In order to avoid having to legislate even limited abortion into being, the state decided to seat themselves firmly on the fence and instead proposed 3 amendments to the constitution to be decided by referendum. An Irish solution to an Irish problem!

The first: Freedom for women to travel outside the State for an abortion was passed

The second: Freedom for women to obtain information on abortion services outside the State was passed

The third: An attempt to exclude suicide as grounds for abortion was rejected.

In the 10 years that followed the state faffed about doing what it does best, setting up committees and publishing green papers until in 2002, again at the instigation of Catholic activist groups, a fifth referendum was held again aimed at setting aside the threat of suicide as grounds for abortion. This was again defeated.

Fast forward to 2010 when The European Court of Human Rights found that Ireland had violated the European Convention on Human Rights by "failing to provide an accessible procedure by which a woman can have established whether she qualifies for a legal abortion under Irish law". The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women was also critical of Ireland’s legal position in 2011 but, it was the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar in 2012 which really forced the abortion issue back into the forefront of political discussion and public opinion.

Savita died of blood poisoning after being denied a termination while suffering a septic miscarriage because a foetal heartbeat was detectable. Her mother spoke out against the country’s abortion laws, stating that “In an attempt to save a 4-month-old foetus they killed my 30-year-old daughter.” Again, this caused public outcry for repeal of the Eighth Amendment on the grounds that it equated the life of a woman to that of a foetus.

This resulted in the current legislation The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 which provides for an offence of destroying unborn life, with exceptions only in the case of a risk to the life of the woman, including a risk of suicide.

In June 2015 Ireland was reprimanded by the UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights for failing to find a solution to the abortion controversy. They criticised the manner in which the foetus inside of a woman is given precedence even when the woman’s health is under threat and the discriminatory impact on women who cannot afford to get abortion abroad or access to the necessary information. The Committee also expresses concern at "the limited access to information on sexual and reproductive health" and asked the government to again review abortion laws especially in cases of rape, incest, and fatal foetal abnormality.

In January 2016 the UN Commitee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) expressed concerns regarding the impact of Ireland’s abortion laws on girls' human rights. They criticised the criminalisation of abortion in cases of rape, incest or severe foetal anomaly and the severe lack of access to sexual and reproductive health education and emergency contraception for adolescents.

Further in June 2016 The UN Human Rights committee, giving judgement in the case of Amanda Mellet, found that Ireland’s abortion laws violated her right to freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in forcing her to travel to another country “while carrying a dying foetus, at personal expense and separated from the support of her family”. The Committee found that by forcing Mellet to travel, Ireland subjected her “to intense physical and mental suffering”. It also concluded that her health was detrimentally impacted by “the shame and stigma associated with the criminalisation of abortion”. The ruling also found that Ireland’s abortion laws constitute discrimination against women on grounds of sex and denies them equal protection of the law. The government was given 180 days to reply.

The response was the setting up of citizen’s assembly to make recommendations for legislation and the decision to hold a further referendum to repeal the hated 8th amendment; which referendum takes place on 25th May and will be far from the end of the story.

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