Abortion referendum: the political winners and losers

Abortion referendum: the political winners and losers
Varadkar, Martin and McDonald strengthen their position while conservatives miss out

May 26, 2018
Fiach Kelly Deputy Political Editor

The referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution is set to be passed by a margin even greater than the most enthusiastic advocates for repeal could have imagined.

The campaign to repeal was led by civic society groups, principally Together for Yes, but there are still political winners and losers from an extraordinary campaign.We chart who they are below.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-referendum/abortion-referendum-the-political-winners-and-losers-1.3509893

How the Yes and No sides won and lost the abortion referendum

How the Yes and No sides won and lost the abortion referendum

Harry McGee: Smiling Savita portraits proclaiming a new reality for Ireland
May 26, 2018

Harry McGee Political Correspondent

In the last few days of the referendum campaign on the Eight Amendment dozens of small posters appeared around Dublin.

The image was of Savita Halappanavar, instantly recognisable from her thick dark hair, wide smile, smiling eyes, and the Bindi dot on the forehead. The message contained one word: Yes. They were striking in their simplicity and directness.

The Savita case (read Kitty Holland’s report from 2012 here) was never too far away from people’s minds during the eight weeks that this extraordinary referendum campaign seeped into Irish public consciousness on doorsteps, in the streets, in the media, or on the airwaves… right up to polling day.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-referendum/how-the-yes-and-no-sides-won-and-lost-the-abortion-referendum-1.3509924

26.05.2018

Abortion Rights Campaign

Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment

National Women’s Council

Niamh Uí Bhriain

No campaign

Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act

Abortion in Ireland – what is the law?

Abortion in Ireland - what is the law?

16 May 2018

On Friday May 25 people in the Republic of Ireland will vote on whether they want to make changes to the country's strict abortion laws, upheld in the Eighth Amendment of the Irish constitution.

So where does the law currently stand?

Continued: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43961988

16.05.2018

Commentary

Featured

abortion on request up to 12 weeks

abortion referendum

Citizens' Assembly

Eighth Amendment

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013

Simon Harris

travelling for abortion

Ireland – Churches’ stance against abortion is ‘virtue signalling’

Churches’ stance against abortion is ‘virtue signalling’
The Eighth Amendment is morally repugnant and places women in dire situations

May 8, 2018
Fergus O'Ferrall

Many church leaders have chosen to oppose abortion in Ireland by defending the retention of article 40.3.3 in the Irish Constitution.

This is a morally defective stance, if the aim is to mitigate the relatively high rate of abortion in Ireland.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/churches-stance-against-abortion-is-virtue-signalling-1.3486855

Ireland – Proposed abortion law ‘follows best legal and medical practice’

Proposed abortion law ‘follows best legal and medical practice’
Irish legislation cannot be described as being ‘like the abortion law in Britain’, says expert

May 2, 2018
Ronan McGreevy

The proposed abortion law in Ireland which will come in if the Eighth Amendment is repealed will be much more restrictive than the law in Britain, a legal expert has said.

Fiona De Londras, Professor of Global Legal Studies at the University of Birmingham, said there is no provision for unrestricted abortion up to six months under the proposed Irish law except in extreme circumstances.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-referendum/proposed-abortion-law-follows-best-legal-and-medical-practice-1.3481736

‘Irish Times’ poll: Clear shift in attitude to abortion since 2013

‘Irish Times’ poll: Clear shift in attitude to abortion since 2013
Survey suggests majority will vote ‘Yes’ but making predictions is fraught with risk

April 19, 2018
Damian Loscher

Today’s Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll provides an early indication of public opinion and voting intentions in the forthcoming referendum on the Eighth Amendment.

Albeit early in the campaign, a significant majority of those declaring their intentions are in favour of repeal – 63 per cent Yes, compared with 37 per cent No when unlikely and undecided voters are excluded.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-referendum/irish-times-poll-clear-shift-in-attitude-to-abortion-since-2013-1.3467547

19.04.2018

Irish Times abortion poll

The hateful Eighth: artists at the frontline of Ireland’s abortion rights battle

The hateful Eighth: artists at the frontline of Ireland's abortion rights battle
As campaigning on both sides of Ireland’s abortion debate intensifies ahead of the May referendum, artists in Limerick are taking to the streets

Emine Saner
Thu 12 Apr 2018

On the road to Limerick from the airport, you can see two huge billboards funded by a Christian lobby group. One shows a foetus at 11 weeks’ gestation with the words “one of us”. Another shows a man saying he would never forget what he saw while working in an operating theatre where abortions were taking place (though the poster implies he was a nurse, the hospital revealed he was a porter). It is six weeks until the referendum in Ireland on whether the eighth amendment to the constitution – which essentially gave a foetus the same rights as the woman carrying it – should be repealed, and the campaigning on both sides is intensifying.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/apr/12/the-hateful-eighth-artists-frontline-ireland-abortion-rights-battle-eighth-amendment

Here’s the number of abortion pills seized in Ireland in the past 10 years

Here's the number of abortion pills seized in Ireland in the past 10 years
“There is a risk when you buy anything from an unknown source that you simply do not know what you are getting.”

Apr 2, 2018

MORE THAN 6,000 abortion pills have been seized in Ireland over the past 10 years.

The use of abortion pills in Ireland has become a major point in the debate on whether Ireland should liberalise its abortion laws: the chair of the Citizens’ Assembly said that in retrospect it should have spent more time discussing abortion pills.

Because abortion is illegal in Ireland (unless there’s a serious risk to the woman’s life) it’s difficult to get a clear picture of how often abortion pills are ordered online by Irish women from countries where they’re legal.

Continued: http://www.thejournal.ie/abortion-pill-use-in-ireland-3892752-Apr2018/

Ireland- Myths and lies about abortion must be debunked

Myths and lies about abortion must be debunked
We are all entitled to our own opinions and beliefs – but not our own facts

Apr 2, 2018
David Robert Grimes

Abortion has long been a contentious issue in Ireland, replete with emotive and frequently dubious rhetoric. This was recently exemplified by Save the Eighth billboard campaign featuring an abortion nurse detailing the horrors he had witnessed.

This testimony was somewhat undermined by the revelation it had been fabricated, leading to the unedifying sight of campaign manager John McGuirk rapidly pivoting from legal threats to grudging acceptance, a volte-face hard to distinguish from surrealist performance art. As the referendum looms ever closer, it is inevitable campaigning will become more charged, both online and off.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/myths-and-lies-about-abortion-must-be-debunked-1.3448176

Ireland- Anti-abortion movement trusts politicians only when it suits them

Anti-abortion movement trusts politicians only when it suits them
Eighth Amendment was result of efforts in 1983 to politicise abortion

Mar 31, 2018
Diarmaid Ferriter

Over the decades, champions of the Eighth Amendment have been conveniently selective in their assessments of the usefulness of politicians. During the Seanad debate on the abortion Bill on Wednesday, Senator Ronán Mullen was adamant that “politicians simply can’t be trusted on this issue”; indeed the Eighth Amendment, he insisted, was originally designed to “take this issue away from politicians”.

But it was the politicians who the orchestrators of the Eighth Amendment found extremely useful in 1983. Emily O’Reilly’s 1992 book, Masterminds of the Right underlines a secret world of a very small group who plotted the 1983 amendment and got the politicians to do their bidding.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/anti-abortion-movement-trusts-politicians-only-when-it-suits-them-1.3445715