Repeal, Defund, or Legalize: The Fight for Abortion in Ireland and the United States
by Tijana Mitrovic
February 16, 2017
Abortion remains a controversial topic in the West regardless of whether it is legal or not. While the United States Supreme Court Case Roe v Wade (1973) declared state laws banning or restricting first trimester abortions unconstitutional in the United States, in Ireland almost all cases of abortion have been constitutionally illegal since 1983.
While abortion was already illegal in Ireland before 1983, it was this year that a voter referendum enacted the Eighth Amendment which “gave ‘the right to life of the unborn’ equal status to ‘the right to life of the mother’ under the Constitution”. However, the labelling of abortion as a crime apparently enshrined in the constitution has not made the topic any less controversial, nor has it halted criticism from the domestic population or international sources.
Continued at source: McGill International Review: http://mironline.ca/repeal-defund-legalize-fight-abortion-ireland-united-states/