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Ireland Abortion Referendum Review

02/06/2018

On 31st May, the ShoutOut News review feature looked back on the referendum on Ireland's "Constititonal Amendment 8".  

Here is the briefing that our team compiled, which we thought you might like to read.  

The Republican newspaper, An Phoblacht reported that The people of the 26 Counties voted by 66.4% to 33.6% to remove the 8th amendment from the constitution, paving the way for liberalisation of abortion legislation. 

The resounding victory for the Yes campaign was announced in Dublin castle shortly after 6pm. 

RTE, the Irish state broadcaster, has looked back on the campaigns run by both Yes and No campaigns in the abortion debate in the Republic. The eventual triumph of “Together for Yes” is all the more remarkable given that it was considerably less financed than its opponents in the “Keep the Eighth” campaign. It is believed that well organised American Christian fundamentalists were advising the anti-abortion campaigners, giving them an early boost and considerable advantage when coming across in newspapers and on televised debates. Although electoral law kept both sides from dealing in excessive dirty tricks, there were aspects that were clearly spoilers. RTE says that when human rights group Amnesty International announced their own poster launch supporting repeal, the “Keep the Eighth” group quickly organised their own press conference for one hour before, so that journalists had to choose which they covered.

 

This said, there were highly contested poster advertisements. The Workers Party of Ireland, reports that firefighters were furious when a anti-abortion poster appeared of a fireman carrying a baby out of a burning building and had the slogan “Men Protect Lives. Vote No and Save Babies from Abortion”. The sexism of the advert was condemned by male and female firefighters with David Gardiner of the Workers Party saying “It is a total misrepresentation of the work we do and the values we hold to link being a firefighter to the oppression of women’s rights “

 

The New Humanist, a magazine from the Rationalist Association, says that “Agenda for Europe”, a Catholic grouping, has been recruiting activists in positions of ecclesiastical and political power over the last decade to roll back LGBTQ and abortion rights across the continent. They have even come to the attention of the European Parliament, which issued a report reminding democrats and progressives that reform can always be rolled back and that progress is not always in one direction.

 

Some of the anti-abortion side in Ireland, alleged on coverage by RTE Radio 1 that the Irish establishment had been entirely in favour of change. However, this was countered by proponents of repeal who argued that doctors, gynaecologists and other medical professionals were all united in favour of law reform – this, they said, was hardly biased.

 

Elton John was recently in the Ukraine, where he has been campaigning for HIV awareness. He said: ‘Look what just happened in Ireland: the vote for abortion. Things change. People … they change their mind. And with a younger generation coming up, they are different kind of people, and they’re our future.’ RTE also reported on the “Youthquake” effect that has also been seen in the British votes on Brexit and on LGBT identities more generally. We are seeing younger people engaged in political issues in a strong way and to an extend perhaps not seen since the New Left's high tide in the later nineteen sixties. Do people agree that we are seeing a “youthquake” effect?

 

And what of the opinions of the LGBT community in Ireland? The Irish Post newspaper reported that the opponents of gay and trans equality were quick to make the connection, with one young gay man beaten up for wearing a “Repeal the Eighth” badge. Gay newswire Pink News says: LGBT allies have praised the outcome of the vote on social media, with Taoseach Leo Varadakar, one of the few openly gay prime ministers in the world, telling television reporters “A quiet revolution has taken place”.

 

Amongst those backing law reform included Sue Perkins and Stephen Fry as well as many activist groups and networks. However, looking through the comments threads at various gay newswires, we do need also to acknolwedge that there are a minority of people who identify as LGBT and / or feminist, who conisder themselves anti-abortion, or as they prefer to call it, pro-life. In the US, these folks are likely to be organised into the campaign network PLAGAL, which stands for Pro Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians, or Feminists for Life. They argue that it is a sensible position for LGBT and pro-women activists to adhere to. They cite examples such as China's now reformed policy on having one child per family, for leading to abortion of many female foetuses and a consequent gender imbalance in the State. Others say that if totally free abortion on demand were implemented, such as is argued by parts of the left, then there would be nothing to stop homophobic agencies from using future scientific research to organise the wholsecale abortion of gay or transgender foetuses.

 

What do we make of the different arguments about LGBT people and abortion rights?

Should the Gay and trans movements have a position on abortion rights? Or, as the Communist Party argued back at the time of Section 28, do we need to build a strong queer community, which sometimes means working with gay people with whom we disagree on most things?

 

Northern Ireland

 

The BBC and Sky News were quick to report on the new pressure on Northern Ireland, which of course, remains a province of the UK, to introduce abortion reforms. The province, which unlike Catholic Southern Ireland, is largely conservative protestant in its religion and politics, has a near blanket ban on abortion, except in circumstances where the mother's life is in grave danger. In an essay for Gay Star News, lesbian feminist activist Dierdre Costigan, who is also active in the trade union UNISON, writes that it is important that campaigners do not call for a referendum in Northern Ireland. This is because in the Republic of Ireland there was a constitutional requirement to change the law …. in Northern Ireland, this requirement does not exist. Northern Ireland is currently being managed from London because its devolved Parliament at Stormont is not presently functioning after rows between the various parties. As a result Costigan and other campaigners are calling for Theresa May to overrule the Northern Ireland laws and impose a settlement.

 

Abortion Rights UK, the organisation that emerged out of the old NAC, or National Abortion Campaign, reminds campaigners that since the 2017 election, which produced a hung parrliament, Theresa May's Conservative administration at Westminster has a “confidence and supply” arrangement, in which the Democratic Unionist Party, the largest single Party in Northern Ireland, will keep her government in power until such time as a new General Election is called – something which may not happen until 2022.

 

A demonstration called “Now for NI” has been convened by Abortion Rights UK, backed by a variety of other campaign groups, and will take place on Tuesday June 5th in Parliament Square at 5.30pm.

 

Now, Prime Minister Theresa May, who indicated in a tweet that she was supportive of the decision of the people of the Republic, has for the time being ruled out Westminster imposing abortion rights on Northern Ireland. It is, her spokesperson told The Guardian, a matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which has not sat since January of 2017 after a deal on renewable energy produced a lockdown that has yet to be broken.

 

It is unlikely that there will be any immediate change in the law for Northern Ireland. The radical weekly paper Socialist Worker this week says that the DUP, upon which the Theresa May government depends to get Parliamentary business done is a party of (quote) “racist, homophobic and anti-abortion bigots”.

 

Irish Republic

 

Now that the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution has been repealed, it will take legislation to pass through the Dail, that is the Irish Parliament, for a new legal framework to be established. It is expected that the majority of Parties in the Parliament, including Fianna Fail, the Greens, Irish Labour and Sinn Fein, will all back a change to the law to allow terminations up to twelve weeks of pregnancy.

 

 

Pro-Choice
Abortion
Abortion Rights
feminism
Activism
Republic of Ireland

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