Ireland – Abortion system could collapse, says researcher involved in review of laws

Dr Deirdre Duffy identifies issues around conscientious objection and spread of services and is concerned her findings will not be shared

Jennifer Bray
Mon Apr 3 2023

Elements of Ireland’s abortion system are “not sustainable” in their current form and the service could collapse, according to a researcher involved in a review of the State’s laws on terminations of pregnancy.

Dr Deirdre Duffy, now at Lancaster University, and a team of researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University were appointed by the Government to carry out a study looking at the experience of abortion service providers such as hospital staff and GPs.

Their research has identified issues around guidance on conscientious objection as well shortcomings in the spread of services available around the country and the availability of staff and facilities in hospitals.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/social-affairs/2023/04/03/abortion-review-researcher-fears-termination-service-could-collapse/


Ireland’s Bill Legalizing Abortion Has Made It Through The Parliament After A Historic Vote

Ireland's Bill Legalizing Abortion Has Made It Through The Parliament After A Historic Vote

By Seth Millstein
Dec 14, 2018

Six months after Irish voters abolished the country's constitutional ban on abortion, a bill in Ireland legalizing abortion has passed parliament, paving the way for the procedure to be widely available in the conservative Catholic country. Prime Miniser Leo Varadkar celebrated the bill's passage on Twitter, and President Michael D. Higgins, a longtime supporter of abortion rights, is expected to sign it into law.

"This is a genuinely historic moment," Health Minister Simon Harris, who helped shepherd the bill through parliament, told the Irish Times. "It is the start of a new era for women’s healthcare." On Twitter, Harris characterized the bill's passage as a "vote to end lonely journeys, end the stigma and support women’s choices in our own country."

Continued: https://www.bustle.com/p/irelands-bill-legalizing-abortion-has-made-it-through-the-parliament-after-a-historic-vote-15530341


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


Abortion referendum: Motivated Yes versus determined No

Abortion referendum: Motivated Yes versus determined No
‘When it comes down to the rub, it is much closer to 1995 in terms of urban/rural split’

May 4, 2018
Harry McGee

“Get there firstest with the mostest”, was the cardinal rule of US civil war general Nathan Bedford Forrest.

The Yes and No campaigns in the referendum on the Eight campaigns seem to have taken that approach to heart. Both are trying to hit the max on every imaginable metric – posters, volunteers, funding, social media reach, communications and messaging.

Inside two rambling Georgian buildings on either side of the Liffey are the nerve centres of Together for Yes campaign, and the opposing Save the 8th.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-referendum-motivated-yes-versus-determined-no-1.3484536