Op-Ed Reproductive Rights: US Abortion Rights Activists Can Draw Inspiration From Ireland
A year ago, I stood in the street in Dublin with friends, awaiting the first exit polls of the Irish abortion referendum. The tension of the past weeks was peaking as we approached the final hours of the vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Irish constitution and overturn the ban on abortion. Many of the activists and campaigners I had met over the previous days hoped to edge by with a narrow margin. As the sunny day came to a close and the first polls trickled out, we looked at our phones in disbelief.
The first polls showed a shock victory for Together for Yes, with 66 percent of voters in favor of repealing the amendment — coincidentally the same margin by which the amendment was adopted in 1983. It was a larger majority than in Ireland’s major referendums on divorce in 1995 (50 percent) and gay marriage in 2015 (62 percent). Most significantly, the vote drew a broad base of support across demographic divisions.
The next day, what we thought would be a nerve-wracking day spent counting ballots to the last vote instead turned to a jubilant celebration in the courtyard at Dublin Castle. While cheering on the campaigners and politicians who ushered through the referendum with the rest of the crowd, I thought about the U.S. with unease. Though right-wing groups and Republicans have steadily chipped away at reproductive health care for decades, they found a new champion with Donald Trump, who had called for women to be punished for abortion during his campaign. With his administration already targeting transgender protections, I couldn’t believe I had witnessed Ireland cast off the last shackles of its repressive Catholic regime only to watch the war on reproductive rights gear up in earnest in the U.S.
The Historical Context of Ireland’s Abortion Rights Struggle
The contests over abortion rights in Ireland and the U.S. are two very different battles. Irish activists have been pushing to establish the right to abortion while here in the U.S., we are fighting to protect and defend existing rights. Though there had been a prohibition on abortion in Ireland since 1861, the progressive wave of legalizations in parts of the U.K., France and the United States led conservative forces in Ireland to push for a stronger and more explicit anti-abortion amendment to the constitution. Proponents of the amendment in 1983 were also hoping to sink the gains of Irish feminists, whose activism had helped to legalize contraception in 1980.
https://truthout.org/articles/us-abortion-rights-activists-can-draw-inspiration-from-ireland/
