What Ireland’s Past Can Tell Us About A Post-Roe America

By Monica Potts
JUN. 8, 2022

Before 2018, most women in the Republic of Ireland were able to get abortions only if they traveled to a clinic in England or Wales or had a self-managed abortion at home, but figuring out how to do either of those options was difficult.

Information on abortion was censored in the first years of the ban, which took effect in 19831. Certain books were prohibited, and even the Irish edition of Cosmopolitan magazine had blank pages instead of adverts for British clinics. Meanwhile, those who sought abortions faced isolation, stigma and limited help from medical professionals. And for the few who were able to overcome those barriers and somehow reach one of the feminist networks that could help with information, logistics and fundraising, they still might pay hundreds of pounds or more for the procedure, transportation, meals and a hotel.

Continued: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-irelands-past-can-tell-us-about-a-post-roe-america/

Ireland Repealed Its Abortion Ban. Is Northern Ireland Next?

Ireland Repealed Its Abortion Ban. Is Northern Ireland Next?
After Dublin voted overwhelmingly to repeal its near-outright abortion ban, pressure is mounting for Belfast to do the same.

Yasmeen Serhan
May 29, 2018

All eyes were on the Republic of Ireland this weekend when it voted resoundingly in favor of repealing its near-total ban on abortion. In the days since, some of that attention has turned to Northern Ireland, where pressure is mounting to change its own restrictive abortion laws.

Though Northern Ireland is a member of the United Kingdom, where abortions are permitted within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy (and later, under exceptional circumstances), U.K. abortion law doesn’t apply in Northern Ireland. This is because the 1967 Abortion Act that legalized abortion access across the U.K. was never enforced in Northern Ireland, which instead adopted abortion laws similar to those of the Republic of Ireland.

Continued: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/05/northern-ireland-abortion-ban/561383/

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The proposed abortion law in Ireland which will come in if the Eighth Amendment is repealed will be much more restrictive than the law in Britain, a legal expert has said.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

Ireland- We felt so alone, says woman whose baby had a fatal foetal abnormality

We felt so alone, says woman whose baby had a fatal foetal abnormality
Couple felt they had no option but to travel to Liverpool to have her longed-for daughter Grace induced, Sligo meeting told

Thu, Apr 5, 2018
Marese McDonagh in Sligo

Tracey Smith says she’ll never forget the plane journey to Liverpool on St Patrick’s Day 2014, four weeks after she discovered that the baby she was carrying had a fatal foetal abnormality.

“We went Ryanair from Knock – you can imagine the revellers,” she says recalling the journey and the loneliness she and her husband Kieran felt.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/we-felt-so-alone-says-woman-whose-baby-had-a-fatal-foetal-abnormality-1.3452074

From Linda Kavanagh to Tracy Harkin: A guide to who’s who in Ireland’s divisive abortion debate

From Linda Kavanagh to Tracy Harkin: A guide to who's who in Ireland's divisive abortion debate
With Ireland's landmark referendum on the Eighth Amendment looming, voices on both sides of the abortion debate are getting louder. But who exactly is lining out?

John Meagher
February 4 2018

It has been a momentous week for campaigners on both sides of the great abortion debate as it was finally confirmed that a referendum would be held this summer. Friday, May 25, is thought to be the most likely day for the referendum, one that pro-choice supporters hope will forever lift the ban on abortion.

But despite a series of opinion polls that indicate that the majority of the country wants change, the pro-life side believes a large cohort of people opposed to abortion have not had their voices heard.

Continued: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/abortion-referendum/from-linda-kavanagh-to-tracy-harkin-a-guide-to-whos-who-in-irelands-divisive-abortion-debate-36558195.html

Ireland’s abortion laws may go to a referendum, but will it turn out like marriage equality?

By Keri Phillips for Rear Vision

November 22, 2016, ABC News

This week a citizens' assembly will meet in Dublin to take the first step towards a referendum on the contentious issue of abortion.

While the Irish may have established their progressive bona fides last year with their vote on same-sex marriage, a vote on abortion could produce a very different result.

In almost all circumstances, abortion is a criminal offence in Ireland.

[continued at link]
Source: ABC.net.au

22.11.2016