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The Irish Abortion Journey, 1920–2018 pp 69–97Cite as

Pro-life States of Mind, 1967–2000s

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Part of the book series: Genders and Sexualities in History ((GSX))

Abstract

The introduction of the Abortion Act of 1967 in Britain had significant impact on the lives of women on the island of Ireland who could, and did, travel for legal and safe abortions. However, it also facilitated Ireland’s continued evasion of complex issues related to pregnancy, thus forcing women to seek solutions to their unwanted, unsafe or unviable pregnancies beyond the moral gaze of both states. While there were significant differences in each state’s handling of these issues, in both cases the policy decisions made in relation to abortion were not woman-centred and were often driven by highly organised conservative forces adept at using politics for ideological purposes. This chapter analyses the moral dynamics of both states exploring the nuances that differentiated them and the cultural forces that made them so similar. It argues that geography and politics were essential to the sustained and successful opposition to abortion in both jurisdictions: they could both export the abortion issue and use women’s bodies for political ends.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Hansard N.I. (Commons), vol. lxxi, 1968, 69, col. 505. Cited in Benson , ‘The Provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, 1900–1968’, pp. 29–30.

  2. 2.

    His obituary notes that McClure was a deeply religious Christian, although his denomination is not noted. H. Ian McClure , ‘Obituary’, British Medical Journal, 284 (March 1982), p. 906.

  3. 3.

    This was then published, see, H. Ian McClure , ‘The Law and Therapeutic Abortion ’, Ulster Medical Journal , 36:2 (1967), pp. 111–17.

  4. 4.

    Ibid.

  5. 5.

    Ibid.

  6. 6.

    Ibid., p. 112. For a good review of the importance of this case, M. P. Clark, Legal Medicine in History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 335–37.

  7. 7.

    Clark, Legal Medicine in History, p. 337.

  8. 8.

    McClure, ‘The Law and Therapeutic Abortion ’, p. 114.

  9. 9.

    This is generally accepted view in the historiography, see: M. J. Maguire, ‘The Changing Face of Catholic Ireland: Conservatism and Liberalism in the Ann Lovett and Kerry Babies Scandals’, Feminist Studies, 27:2 (Summer 2001), pp. 335–58; S. McAvoy , ‘From Anti-Amendment Campaigns to Demanding Reproductive Justice : The Changing Landscape of Abortion Rights Activism in Ireland, 1983–2008’ in Schweppe , The Unborn Child, Article 40.3.3 and Abortion in Ireland, pp. 15–47.

  10. 10.

    B. Girvin, ‘An Irish Solution to an Irish Problem: Catholicism, Contraception and Change, 1922–1979’, Contemporary European History, 27:1 (2018), pp. 1–22, p. 9.

  11. 11.

    Bishop Kevin McNamara , The Family Today (Dublin: Irish Messenger, 1984), p. 7. K. McNamara served as bishop of Kerry between 1976 and 1984, where he became a vocal defender of Catholic family values. His reputation in that regard may well have influenced the Vatican in appointing him archbishop of Dublin in 1985, where he remained until his death in 1987. See, D. C. Sheehy, ‘McNamara , Kevin’, in J. McGuire and J. Quinn, (eds), Dictionary of Irish Biography, http://dib.cambridge.org.ucd.idm.oclc.org/quicksearch.do#.

  12. 12.

    T. Hesketh, The Second Partitioning of Ireland? The Abortion Referendum of 1983 (Dublin: Brandsma Books, 1990), p. 2.

  13. 13.

    For a classic presentation of this case see, D. Barry, ‘Female Suffrage from a Catholic Standpoint’, Irish Ecclesiastical Record, 26 (September 1909), pp. 295–303. The same argument was recycled again in relation to women working outside the home, see Rev. C. Lucey, ‘The Problem of the Woman Worker’, Irish Ecclesiastical Record, 48 (July–December 1936), pp. 449–67.

  14. 14.

    McAvoy, ‘From Anti-Amendment Campaigns to Demanding Reproductive Justice ’, pp. 15–47.

  15. 15.

    D. F. Hannan and L. A. Katsiaouni, Traditional Families? From Culturally Prescribed to Negotiated Roles in Farm Families (Dublin: The Economic and Social Research Institute, 1977), pp. 5, 11.

  16. 16.

    M. MacGréil, Prejudice and Tolerance in Ireland (Dublin: College of Industrial Relations, 1977), p. 410.

  17. 17.

    It was established with members of the Catholic Doctors’ Guild, representatives of the Council of Special Concern and of the Irish Branch of a British organisation, the Responsible Society, at its core. Society for the Protection of Unborn Children [SPUC] also entered the fold at its launch. McAvoy, ‘From Anti-Amendment Campaigns to Demanding Reproductive Justice ’, p. 23.

  18. 18.

    Schweppe , ‘Introduction’, in Schweppe, The Unborn Child, Article 40.3.3 and Abortion in Ireland, pp. 1–14, p. 4; S. Mullally, ‘Abortion Law: Rights Discourse, Dissent and Reproductive Autonomy ’, ibid., pp. 213–45, p. 220.

  19. 19.

    M. Healey , ‘“I Don’t Want to Get into This, It’s Too Controversial”: How Irish Women Politicians Conceptualise the Abortion Debate’ in Schweppe , The Unborn Child, Article 40.3.3 and Abortion in Ireland, pp. 65–85, p. 67.

  20. 20.

    On feminist action with regard to abortion in the 1980s, see. Connolly, The Irish Women’s Movement, pp. 155–86.

  21. 21.

    Ibid., p. 164.

  22. 22.

    Ibid., p. 160. Connolly’s emphasis.

  23. 23.

    See Healey , ‘I Don’t Want to Get into This, It’s Too Controversial’.

  24. 24.

    ‘The Second Partitioning of Ireland’, Irish Times , 30 August 1983; Hesketh gives this as the reason for the title of his book on the referendum . See, Hesketh, The Second Partitioning of Ireland? p. 75.

  25. 25.

    R. Fletcher , ‘Post-colonial Fragments: Representations of Abortion in Irish Law and Politics’, Journal of Law and Society, 28:4 (December 2001), p. 577.

  26. 26.

    This list was sourced from Connolly, The Irish Women’s Movement, p. 158.

  27. 27.

    Hesketh, The Second Partitioning of Ireland? pp. 58–59.

  28. 28.

    Ibid., pp. 113–44.

  29. 29.

    It is currently Article 40.3.3 of the Irish Constitution.

  30. 30.

    ‘Attorney General Rules Out Wording’, Irish Times , 16 February 1983.

  31. 31.

    ‘What You Say’, Woman’s Way (1 July 1983), p. 5

  32. 32.

    P. Yeates , ‘Sheila Hodgers —A Case in Question’, Irish Times , 2 September 1983. For a review of this case see, F. O’Toole, ‘The Ugly Politics of the Womb ’, Irish Times , 5 August 2003.

  33. 33.

    Yeates , ‘Sheila Hodgers —A Case in Question’.

  34. 34.

    https://electionsireland.org/results/referendum/refdetail.cfm?ref=1983R, accessed 19 March 2018.

  35. 35.

    M. Nic Ghiolla Phádraig, ‘Social and Cultural Factors in Family Planning’, The Changing Family (Family Studies Unit, UCD, 1984), pp. 58–97, p. 80.

  36. 36.

    Fermanagh Herald, 29 February 1992, p. 12.

  37. 37.

    M. Holland, ‘An Issue the Liverpool Boat Can’t Carry Away’, Irish Times , 25 June 1986.

  38. 38.

    R. Holohan, ‘Girl and Baby Death Inquiry to Be Private’, Irish Times , 7 February 1984.

  39. 39.

    For Nell McCafferty’s recollections see, https://radio.rte.ie/radio1highlights/kerry-babies-drivetime/. The Irish state finally apologized to Joanne Hayes in January 2018. For a detailed contemporary account of how she was treated see, McCafferty, A Woman to Blame.

  40. 40.

    N. McCafferty , ‘Womanhood Goes on Trial in Tralee ’, Irish Press, 16 January 1985.

  41. 41.

    This banner is depicted in a photograph taken by Michael MacSweeny, which featured in an article by D. Ferriter, ‘Detective Gerry O’Carroll Owes Joanne Hayes an Apology’, Irish Times , 20 January 2018, https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/detective-gerry-o-carroll-owes-joanne-hayes-an-apology-1.3360692, accessed 1 September 2018.

  42. 42.

    M. Fogarty, L. Ryan, and J. Lee (eds), Irish Values and Attitudes: The Irish Report of the European Value Systems Study (Dublin: Dominican Publications, 1984), pp. 8, 99.

  43. 43.

    Ibid., p. 47.

  44. 44.

    This survey defined housewives as women who were mainly responsible for the running of a household, but who might also work full or part-time outside that household. It put the number of housewives in Ireland at 845,000, which translated into a third of the adult population and two-thirds of the adult female population. L. Collins, The Irish Housewife — A Portrait (Dublin: Irish Consumer Research, 1986), pp. 3–5.

  45. 45.

    Ibid., p. 64.

  46. 46.

    Ibid., p. 69.

  47. 47.

    Ibid., p. 75.

  48. 48.

    U. Barry, ‘Abortion in Ireland’, Feminist Review, 29 (1988), pp. 57–66.

  49. 49.

    Cited in Connolly, The Irish Women’s Movement, p. 171.

  50. 50.

    A. Rossiter , Ireland’s Hidden Diaspora : The ‘Abortion Trail’ and the Making of a London-Irish Underground, 1980–2000 (London: Iasc, 2009), p. 96; Connolly , The Irish Women’s Movement, p. 174.

  51. 51.

    This was to replace Open Door Counselling and was known as Open Line telephone helpline and continued for many years. Connolly, The Irish Women’s Movement, p. 170.

  52. 52.

    M. Maher, ‘1,850 Irishwomen Travel to Britain for Abortion’, Irish Times , 19 January 1988.

  53. 53.

    Connolly, The Irish Women’s Movement, p. 175.

  54. 54.

    For a detailed analysis of these groups see, Rossiter , Ireland’s Hidden Diaspora .

  55. 55.

    Rossiter , Ireland’s Hidden Diaspora , p. 97.

  56. 56.

    Ibid., p. 96.

  57. 57.

    McAvoy, ‘From Anti-Amendment campaigns to Demanding Reproductive Justice ’, p. 30.

  58. 58.

    L. Smyth , ‘Narratives of Irishness and the Problem of Abortion: The X Case 1992’, Feminist Review, 60 (1998), pp. 61–83. See ATTORNEY GENERAL Plaintiff v. X. and OTHERS Defendants [1992 No. 846 P], found at http://www.supremecourt.ie/supremecourt/sclibrary3.nsf/0/9FA0AA8E8D261FC48025765C0042F6B3?openDocument&l=en.

  59. 59.

    Cited in Connolly, The Irish Women’s Movement, p. 177.

  60. 60.

    M. Muldowney , ‘Breaking the Silence : Pro-choice Activism in Ireland Since 1983’, in J. Redmond, S. Tiernan, S. McAvoy , and M. McAuliffe (eds), Sexual Politics in Modern Ireland (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2015), pp. 127–50, p. 134.

  61. 61.

    This poster appears in photographs taken by Derek Speirs of the 17 February 1992 march in Dublin.

  62. 62.

    These posters appear in photographs taken by Derek Speirs at a Dublin march on 22 February 1992.

  63. 63.

    This poster appears in photographs taken by Derek Speirs of the 25 February 1992 march in Dublin.

  64. 64.

    L. Ryan, ‘“A Decent Girl Well Worth Helping”: Women, Migration and Unwanted Pregnancy ’, in L. Harte and Y. Whelan (eds), Ireland Beyond Boundaries: Mapping Irish Studies in the Twenty-First Century (Dublin: Pluto Press, 2007), pp. 135–53, p. 152.

  65. 65.

    Referendum (Amendment) (no. 2) Act, 1992, http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1992/act/22/enacted/en/html.

  66. 66.

    B. Ahern with R. Aldous, Bertie Ahern: The Autobiography (Dublin: Arrow, 2010), p. 252.

  67. 67.

    Ulster Herald , 9 May 1992.

  68. 68.

    Dr. Tom McKinstry is cited while attending the BMA annual meeting, see, Irish Times , 1 July 1983.

  69. 69.

    P. Nolan, ‘Consistent Christian Opposition to Abortion’, Irish Times , 15 February 1983.

  70. 70.

    Ulster Herald , 10 May 1975.

  71. 71.

    Fermanagh Herald, 14 May 1988.

  72. 72.

    ‘Abortion a Grievous Sin’, Ulster Herald , 19 October 1991, front page.

  73. 73.

    ‘The Other Troubles’, The Guardian, 17 August 1999.

  74. 74.

    Cited in Rossiter , Ireland’s Hidden Diaspora , p. 147.

  75. 75.

    McCormick, ‘No Sense of Wrongdoing ’, p. 141. Lorna Goldstrom and her husband founded this organisation. ‘Obituary: Max Goldstrom: Social and Economic Historian’, The Sunday Times, 19 August 2009.

  76. 76.

    P. A. Compton, L. Goldstrom, and J. M. C. Goldstrom, ‘Religion and Legal Abortion in Northern Ireland’, Journal of Biosocial Science, 6 (1974), p. 495.

  77. 77.

    The former Secretary of State for Health, Ms. Virginia Bottomley, has said that abortion is ‘offensive to the overwhelming majority’ of those in the North. The Northern Irish House of Commons has also been depicted as possessing only a ‘pro-abortion minority’. Hansard N.I. (Commons), 8 October 2013, vol. 88, no. 4, col. 42.

  78. 78.

    Mr. Buchanan, ‘Abortion’, Private Members’ Business, NI Assembly, vol. 24, 22 October 2007, http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/assembly-business/official-report/reports-07-08/22-october-2007/.

  79. 79.

    Mr. O’Dowd. ‘Abortion’, Private Members’ Business, NI Assembly, vol. 24, 22 October 2007, http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/assembly-business/official-report/reports-07-08/22-october-2007/.

  80. 80.

    Rossiter , Ireland’s Hidden Diaspora , p. 19.

  81. 81.

    E. V. Fegan and R. Rabouche, ‘Northern Ireland’s Abortion Law’, Feminist Legal Studies, 11:3 (October 2003), pp. 221–54, 241–42.

  82. 82.

    Ibid., p. 242.

  83. 83.

    Private Members’ Business, ‘Abortion’, NI Assembly, vol. 24, 22 October 2007, http:leenan//www.niassembly.gov.uk/assembly-business/official-report/reports-07-08/22-october-2007/.

  84. 84.

    C. Francome, ‘Attitudes of General Practitioners in Northern Ireland Toward Abortion and Family Planning’, Family Planning Perspectives, 29:5 (1997), p. 234.

  85. 85.

    Rossiter , Ireland’s Hidden Diaspora , p. 19.

  86. 86.

    M. Hill, Women in Ireland: A Century of Change (Belfast: Blackstaff, 2003), p. 199. Anti-abortion reform bodies include LIFE and Precious Life.

  87. 87.

    T. McGleenan , ‘Bourne Again? Abortion Law in Northern Ireland After Re K and Re A’, Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly , 45 (1994), pp. 389–94, p. 390.

  88. 88.

    Ibid. p. 392.

  89. 89.

    S. Breen , ‘Uncertainty of North’s Abortion Laws “Could Violate Human Rights”’, Irish Times , 14 November 1994.

  90. 90.

    Brennan, ‘The State of Abortion Law in Northern Ireland’, pp. 251–53.

  91. 91.

    Ibid.

  92. 92.

    Ibid.

  93. 93.

    L. Smyth , ‘The Cultural Politics of Sexuality and Reproduction in Northern Ireland’, Sociology, 40:2 (2006), p. 675.

  94. 94.

    Rossiter , Ireland’s Hidden Diaspora , p. 18.

  95. 95.

    Quoted in H. McDonald, ‘“Last Chance” to Legalise Abortions in Northern Ireland’, The Guardian, 19 October 2008.

  96. 96.

    Bloomer and O’Dowd, ‘Restricted Access to Abortion in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland: Exploring Abortion Tourism and Barrier to Legal Reform’, pp. 366–80, p. 368.

  97. 97.

    McDonald, ‘“Last Chance” to Legalise Abortions in Northern Ireland’.

  98. 98.

    J. Wright , ‘Failure to Extend the Abortion Act Puts Lives of Women in Northern Ireland at Risk’, Nursing Times , 23 November 2008.

  99. 99.

    R. J. Cook, ‘Transparency in the Delivery of Lawful Abortion Services’, Canadian Medical Association Journal, 180:3 (2009), pp. 272–73, p. 272.

  100. 100.

    Smyth, ‘The Cultural Politics’, pp. 665, 671–75. Northern Ireland is one of 24 countries, including New Zealand, where mental health is a ground for legal abortion. Singh, Remez, Sedgh, Kwok and Onda, Abortion Worldwide 2017: Uneven Progress and Unequal Access, p. 115.

  101. 101.

    ‘Abortion’, Private Members’ Business, NI Assembly, vol. 24, 22 October 2007, http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/assembly-business/official-report/reports-07-08/22-october-2007/.

  102. 102.

    C. Dyer, ‘Abortion Numbers Halve in Northern Ireland as Doctors Fear Prison’, British Medical Journal, 352:1 (8 January 2016), p. 135.

  103. 103.

    For a sense of the multiple attempts and failures to supply guidelines see, ‘Abortion Practice and Provision in Northern Ireland—Factsheet—FPA’ (8 October 2014), https://www.fpa.org.uk/sites/default/files/northern-ireland-abortion.pdf.

  104. 104.

    P. Daniels, P. Campbell, and A. Clinton, ‘The Current State of Abortion Law and Practice in Northern Ireland’, British Journal of Nursing, 22:6 (2013), pp. 36–38.

  105. 105.

    While the impact of the abortion pill must be considered in these declining rates, so too must the impact of fear and uncertainty about the medical profession’s decision-making.

  106. 106.

    Cited in H. McDonald, ‘Northern Ireland’s First Private Abortion Clinic to Open in Belfast’, The Guardian, 11 October 2012.

  107. 107.

    Ibid.

  108. 108.

    Purvis outlined this in an interview of RTÉ Radio Today with Pat Kenny show. See, ‘Marie Stopes to Provide Abortions at New Private Clinic in Belfast’, RTÉ News, 11 October 2012, https://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1011/341154-marie-stopes-abortion-belfast/, accessed 26 October 2018.

  109. 109.

    ‘Northern Irish Women Win Access to Free Abortions as May Averts Rebellion’, The Guardian, 29 June 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/29/rebel-tories-could-back-northern-ireland-abortion-amendment.

  110. 110.

    A. Ferguson, ‘Closure of Marie Stopes Belfast Clinic Ends Five Years of Hostility ’, Irish Times , 8 December 2017.

  111. 111.

    Ibid.

  112. 112.

    Ibid.

  113. 113.

    Women were offered escorts to help them pass the protesters and fend off any attempts to intimidate the women entering the Marie Stopes clinic. For descriptions of some of these protests see, H. McDonald, ‘Anti-abortion Activists Protest at Belfast Clinic Opening’, The Guardian, 18 October 2012.

  114. 114.

    This point was made in conversation with Dawn Purvis.

  115. 115.

    Maguire, ‘The Changing Face of Catholic Ireland’, pp. 335–58; McAvoy, ‘From Anti-Amendment Campaigns to Demanding Reproductive Justice ’, p. 17.

  116. 116.

    D. Walsh, ‘Plebiscites Cannot Stop Sad Procession to England’, Irish Times , 29 November 1997.

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  1. School of History, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Lindsey Earner-Byrne

  2. Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Diane Urquhart

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Earner-Byrne, L., Urquhart, D. (2019). Pro-life States of Mind, 1967–2000s. In: The Irish Abortion Journey, 1920–2018. Genders and Sexualities in History. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03855-7_5

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