BY SUSAN AUSTIN
DUBLIN — Nine women's rights, women's health and civil liberties organisations came together for a press conference in Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel on September 5 to mark the 20th anniversary of the passing of the Eighth Amendment to the Irish constitution. This tightened the ban on abortion, declaring that a fertilised egg is legally equal to the woman in whose body it resides.
Many of the participants had been active in the anti-amendment campaign prior to the 1983 referendum. Speakers reflected on that campaign and spoke about the current state of the campaign for abortion rights.
Organised by the Dublin-based Alliance for Choice, all speakers called on the Irish government to show political courage and repeal article 40.3.3 of the constitution, which forces about 7000 Irish women each year to travel abroad to obtain abortions.
At one point, a handful of young people waving placards with pictures of blood-covered foetuses on them stormed into the room. They crowded behind the speakers, shouting "Abortion is murder!" and yelling abuse. They eventually left after the speakers and others linked arms and sang "We Shall Overcome". Several speakers commented that the disrupters' actions highlighted the type of harassment and hostility that pro-choice campaigners faced 20 years ago.
The 1983 referendum
Abortion in Ireland was already illegal under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which made it an offence punishable by up to life imprisonment.
The 1983 abortion referendum came about because the government had made a pre-election promise to the "pro-life" lobby group to insert an article into the constitution that would outlaw abortion services in Ireland forever. According to Ray Kavanagh, who was the national campaign director for the Anti-Amendment Campaign, the referendum campaign was the most divisive ever. The AAC was a coalition of liberals, socialists, feminists, republicans, gays and lesbians, and numerous others.
They were up against the major political parties, the powerful Catholic Church, much of the establishment media and some fierce pro-life campaigners. This was a time when contraception, homosexuality and divorce were illegal in Ireland, sex education was unheard of and married couples were counselled by priests to sleep in separate bedrooms if they wanted to delay having children.
Glenys Spray, a feminist from Cork, described the campaign as being long, heated and bitter. In the end, the anti-abortion amendment passed with a two-to-one majority. However, Spray pointed out that 45% of voters did not cast a ballot and more than 400,000 people voted against it.
Robin Hanon, a contributor to the Alliance for Choice's publication 20 Years of the 8th Amendment, noted that near the start of the campaign opinion polls showed that about 95% were for the amendment. Few public figures spoke out against it. Yet, by the end of the campaign, the Dail (Irish Parliament) was evenly divided and public opinion was split. The fact that so many people defied the direct orders of the Catholic Church to either vote against the amendment or not vote, was groundbreaking.
Ailbhe Smyth from the Women's Education, Research and Resource Centre described how the 1983 campaign broke the silence on the fact that Irish women were having abortions. Kavanagh was not alone in claiming that 1983 marked the real beginning of the liberalisation of Irish society, when forbidden subjects began to be discussed.
The 'X' case
After the 1967 Abortion Act in Britain allowed abortions under certain circumstances, thousands of Irish women each year made the journey to England. The abortion issue in Ireland hit the headlines again in 1992, when a 14-year-old woman (known as "X") was raped and became pregnant. She was suicidal and her parents tried to take her to England for an abortion. Amidst huge demonstrations in support of the young woman, her case was taken to the High Court and the judge ruled that abortion could be legal if a woman's life was at risk.
In practice, pregnancies are terminated in hospitals where there is a substantial medical risk to the life of the woman. Until recently, the Ireland Medical Council's guidelines specified that the threat of suicide did not qualify as such a risk.
Between 1985 and 1997, the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) launched a series of legal cases against the Dublin Well Woman Centres, Open Door Counselling and three students' unions in an attempt to stop them providing information about how to obtain an abortion. The Supreme Court declared this information illegal and banned it.
In 1992, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Irish women have the right to information on crisis pregnancy options, including information on abortion services in England.
There were three referenda held in 1992, one of which safeguarded the right of women to travel abroad for abortion, and another that safeguarded the right to information. These led in 1995 to the Abortion Information Act, which allowed information to be provided about abortion, although only in certain circumstances. For example, information must be given face-to-face in a counselling situation, in which all other options are discussed.
Details about abortion clinics in the UK cannot be given out over the telephone. Doctors and other pregnancy counselling services are not obliged to give any information. These restrictions have caused major problems for women in Ireland, especially those living in rural areas.
Women on Waves
In 2001, the Women on Waves project came to Ireland, reactivating old alliances and forging new links between pro-choice activists around the country. Set up by a Dutch pro-choice organisation, the project involved a team of female doctors, who travelled to countries where abortion was illegal aboard a ship called the Aurora, which was a portable abortion clinic. The doctors offered advice, contraceptives and terminations on board the vessel. It docked in Cork and Dublin, but in the end could offer only limited services due to a licence issue with its own government.
However, Sandra McAvoy, a member of the Cork Women's Political Association, pointed out that the sympathetic response to the Aurora's mission from the public and media suggested that there was a growing understanding of, and compassion for, women seeking abortion.
In 2002, another anti-choice referendum tried to roll back the very limited gains made in the "X" case ruling. A proposed constitutional amendment aimed to deny a woman who became suicidal as a result of a crisis pregnancy the right to have an abortion. It also threatened, among other things, up to 12 years' imprisonment for any woman having an abortion, or anybody helping her. The Alliance for No Vote was formed and again mounted a vigorous campaign.
This time the pro-choice side won and the proposed amendment was defeated by the Irish people. Although the count was very close, it signified that the tide had turned against the anti-abortion lobby.
Ireland today
In Ireland today, contraceptives are available (albeit expensive), divorce is legal (after a four-out-of-five-years separation), homosexuality has been decriminalised (but still condemned by the Catholic Church) and a small amount of sex education takes place in schools (although vastly more is needed). However, the ridiculous and tragic situation of Irish women being forced to go abroad to seek abortions continues.About 150,000 women are known to have travelled to England for abortions since the Eighth Amendment was passed 20 years ago. Many others have done so but have not been recorded in the statistics. Countless more young and/or poor women have been unable to go because they could not afford to, despite wanting and needing an abortion. Working-class women have great difficulties coming up with the money, finding childcare or being able to take time off work or family commitments to make the stressful, and often shameful, journey.
This situation has serious health implications. Alison Begas from the Dublin Well Woman Centres explained that women often miss out on primary care after they return from having a termination overseas.
Women in Northern Ireland must also make the voyage across the Irish Sea, as the 1967 British Abortion Act was not extended to Northern Ireland.
Last year, 10.3% of all conceptions in Ireland ended in abortion. Catherine Forde from the Irish Family Planning Association contrasted the rise in Irish abortion rates to the situation in Denmark: "In June, the 30th anniversary of safe, legal abortion in Denmark coincided with the national abortion rate reaching its lowest point. This backs up international research which argues that in developed countries with legalised abortion and access to abortion services, the long-term permanent trend in abortion rates is downward."
The introduction of an Irish government-sponsored Crisis Pregnancy Agency in October 2001, which may be able to offer counselling to 2200 women this year, is a welcome step.
The September 5 press conference signified the regrouping and relaunching of the Irish pro-choice movement after last year's tiring but successful "no vote" campaign. The Alliance for Choice and the Cork Women's Right to Choose are planning a schedule of events to move the campaign forward.
While all groups represented at the press conference agreed on the urgent need to repeal the Eighth Amendment, it was unclear if they also agree on under what circumstances abortion should be permitted by law. These debates will unfold as the struggle for access to safe, free and legal abortion in Ireland continues.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, September 24, 2003.
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