Was the “Repeal the 8th” campaign for Abortion in Ireland a success? The constitution has been changed and for the first time in its history, Ireland provides termination of pregnancy from the main women’s hospitals and clinics. But has the campaign really changed anything for women in Ireland, which is steeped in misogynistic history?
The Eighth Amendment was a subsection in the Constitution recognising the equal right to life of the pregnant woman and the unborn which was signed in 1983. There was an anti-amendment campaign in 1983 which was unsuccessful and from there, the first campaign to repeal the eighth amendment started in 1992 after the X Case. It took decades of bitter war before abortion was finally allowed in Ireland in 2018.
Abortion is a woman’s right. It should be available for free and on demand. The HSE claim that abortion in Ireland is free but is this the case?
HSE guidelines for abortion state that a termination is available for pregnancies up to twelve weeks, but only when certified by a GP, with a three day wait between the certification and the procedure, and only in specific locations.
This is problematic from a feminist perspective. This is not ‘on demand’ abortion considering that a GP can refuse to give a certificate and cause further delay to the womans healthcare. This is not ‘available’ as women still need to travel, and for early morning appointments might need a stay-over if they are coming inter-county. And if the window of 12 weeks has closed a woman would then need to travel to the UK again, to terminate the pregnancy. Further the three days ‘just in case’ delay between the certification and the abortion cements the misogynistic undercurrents of Irish society that paints women as creatures who are not to be trusted with their own decisions.
Satisfying the ‘pro-life’ lobby in this way is harmful to women.
The delay creates a pocket of time in which a woman is caused further suffering. I spoke to Stephanie* about her recent experience of Irish abortion, after discovering she was pregnant from a colleague. She was relieved that she did not have the burden and stress of travelling to the UK but felt that the system still did not afford her the respect as a sentient adult female to make her decisions.
“It just wasn’t an option right now, and being tied for life to my work friend just felt really wrong” she said, “but I found the whole thing really degrading to be honest, having to be certified first by my doctor — which confused me because why would she have a say in this anyway — and then having to wait three days for my appointment when I just wanted to get myself sorted and move on. I had a really strange three days in work waiting for the appointment and avoiding my friend who was upset enough by the whole thing, and I just felt it was unfair. After the procedure I took a day off work, but those three days really impacted me in a negative way. The abortion itself was fine, but that wait was just unnecessary and cruel.”
One woman Dionne told me she found approaching the GP to be a difficult step in her small town in the midlands, and she instead got a bus to the biggest town and attended a Well Woman Clinic. It cost her around €100 to get her certificate. Then she made an appointment which she could only get first thing in the morning and so needed an overnight stay.
This is not free, on demand abortion. The window of twelve weeks means that many women will still be forced to travel to the UK.
Pro-life feminists who think abortion should be restricted might argue that free and on demand abortion only benefits men and it condones violence against women. They believe that if women can easily access abortion, and aren’t stigmatised for it, then men feel less responsibility for the women they get pregnant. Catherine McKinnon once wrote that “abortion facilitates women’s heterosexual availability” and “frees male sexual aggression.”
Abortion in Ireland, and the scores of women travelling to the UK alone, have already proven this is not a reality.
Abortion care has been a key focus of women’s rights since the 19th century. Feminists understand the value of the woman as mother. This value must be emphasised in any society that seeks equality. As much as a progressive society provides abortion on demand, it must also ensure that the choice to terminate is not from a place of economic, educational or career restraints.
However the Repeal movement positioned abortion as a ‘private privilege’ for women, not as a ‘public right’. This is not a pro-woman perspective. But are we surprised? No. This is the country who ignores women in discussions about their health and well-being. For example, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly posed for a photo at the Coombe hospital in Dublin to discuss maternity issues and there was only one woman present in a crowd of suited men. Men have no place discussing women’s issues and certainly have no role in gynaecological care.
By choosing to highlight the need for abortion care in married women with fatal foetal abnormality in very much wanted pregnancies, the Repeal campaign further cemented the Irish ideology of a ‘good abortion’ and a ‘bad abortion’.
That in turn confirmed the stereotype of the good woman, as defined by Betty Friedman in 1950 as one with “sexual passivity, male domination, and nurturing maternal love”.
Women do not have to be ‘good’ to be free. Women demand equality because they are equal to men. We are not granted these rights, they simply are women’s rights.
Abortion cannot and should not be restricted because to do so is to refuse to see the woman as a creature in full charge of her own body.
The undercurrents of the Abortion referendum, which focused the eyes of Ireland on the married women, with a much wanted pregnancy, in desperate need of the public’s help, as opposed to the free woman in charge of her own body.
The Repeal campaign asked for lenience for women, for compassion and care and refused to address the reality of abortion rights.
The Repeal campaign banners shouted “Trust women”, while middle class liberal feminists pounded the pavements with their slogan-ed jumpers missing the point altogether, it is about REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM without stigma. One instagram influencer said in her daily selfie rant “Sure Ireland can’t complain about single mothers anymore if it doesn’t bring in abortion”.
The Irish abortion campaign did nothing to further women’s rights and only added to an already misogynistic culture of blaming, judging and stereotyping women. Ireland needs to make huge steps to counteract its history. The Repeal campaign was an opportunity to do that and it failed women by taking the easy path to success.
Radical Feminist | LBG Ally | Pro-Choice | Mother | Socialist not Socialite | Critic of any faith based belief that is presented as fact | Perpetual Student of Anthropology, Film, Journalism and Law | Views her own