Abortion in Ireland - Life choices

The Economist ^ | Jan 24th 2002 | unknown

[Jeremy_Bentham]

Yet another plebiscite on abortion looms in Ireland

FEW issues have so dominated public debate in Ireland, or proved so divisive, as abortion. The weary Irish electorate has endured four plebiscites on the subject in 20 years. In the next few weeks they will face a fifth, intended to tighten already restrictive abortion laws even further.

Last year an estimated 7,000 Irish women travelled abroad, mainly to England, to end unwanted pregnancies. At home, abortion is illegal on all except the narrowest of grounds: where the life of a pregnant mother is threatened because she is suicidal. The entitlement has hardly ever been invoked—only once since 1992, when the Irish courts first established it, in the case of a teenage rape victim. The constitutional referendum is on whether to remove even this limited right.

The campaign is led by Bertie Ahern, the prime minister. A conservative on social issues himself, his coalition government has relied for its parliamentary majority on four independents. Part of the price for their support has been a further referendum on abortion, which Mr Ahern regards as “unfinished business”.

The referendum, if passed, would repeal the 1992 Supreme Court ruling. But, to the dismay of some anti-abortion campaigners, that change would give a higher priority to the mother's life if she is in danger (other than from a suicide threat) than to a fetus's right to life.

Since his election as prime minister in 1997, Mr Ahern has tried to build a consensus for change in this area. But with a general election expected in May, unity is slowly fracturing. His coalition partners remain lukewarm about the proposals, the opposition parties reject them, and divisions have emerged within the anti-abortion movement. This recalls 1992, when a broadly similar anti-abortion measure also created political rifts. Then, an alliance of conservatives and liberals—for different reasons—opposed change and defeated the constitutional amendment by a two-to-one margin.

For Mr Ahern, the referendum is a big gamble. A win would check what he sees as a steady slide towards freely available “social abortion” in Ireland. A defeat, however, would only serve to speed that process up. Moreover, a second referendum loss, following the public's rejection of the EU's Nice treaty last year, would be a very bad start to the unofficial election campaign already under way.

[Cian]

Irish Freeper here. The constitutional ammendment proposes to protect the life of the unborn from the moment the embryo is implanted into the womb. There are basically two types of opponents to the ammendment. 1) Those who think it's too conservative - an argument that's easy to understand even if you don't agree with it. And 2) Those who think it is too liberal. The life of the unborn is not protected between the time of conception and implantation into the womb. This basically means women can still use the 'Morning After' Pill.

For many conservatives this ammendment is a hard pill to swallow because it would dilute the view that life commences at conception and ends at death. However, Ireland is becoming increasingly 'liberal' and we might just have to be practical about it and accept that this is the best we're going to get.

Hard to say whether or not the ammendment will pass. I haven't seen any polls on how we intend to vote on the referendum. (Too busy reading FreeRepublic - May I recommend Mark Steyn to you all).

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

When I was single, I dated a few Irish girls. If the subject of abortion came up I told them about how many American women who have abortions use it as a form of birth control. From their reaction, you would have thought I was talking about seeing Elvis. It was sheer disbelief. They couldn't comprehend the idea of convenience abortions. I thought that was a good thing.

[victim soul]

I can only hope and pray that the Irish will not vote to commit their own suicides by "choice" after all the years of the Brits trying to kill us off by starvation.

"A nation that kills its children is a nation without hope." pope John Paul II

My fellow Irishmen, "Be fruitful and multiply" -- you'll own all of Europe including Great Britain in as little as 50 years-- as all those countries are far below replacement level births!!

Let the Irish be the leaders and once again save our Western Civilization.

[Happygal]

Steyn is one of my favourites. I check him out regularly on Canada's National Post. :-)

[ArGee]

Can I withold my "Hooray" until after the plebescite?

Shalom.

[Khepera]

Yes but do not forget to keep breathing.

[ArGee]

Yes but do not forget to keep breathing.

Yes, of course. That explains why the screen was going gray. I thought it was a problem in my display driver.

Shalom.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Thanks for the update. I can see that this is confusing, when really the subject should not be confusing at all. A life is a life.

[Colosis]

I'm sure you can imagine how this is making the boold boil over here. I hope you too get the opportunity to vote directly on this issue some day.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I hope you too get the opportunity to vote directly on this issue some day.

We never will, more's the pity. And with 29 years of Roe v. Wade under our belt, we've lost the future. Too many young folks think that it is their right to be promiscuous and to flush any inconvenient children. It is truly shameful. And it has created a couple of generations of selfish and irresponsible people. It is so sad that we now have more abortions than live birthsin some states (perhaps all states). Shameful.