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

Social media under microscope in emotive Irish abortion vote

Social media under microscope in emotive Irish abortion vote

21 May 2018

DUBLIN (AP) — In homes and pubs, on leaflets and lampposts, debate is raging in Ireland over whether to lift the country's decades-old ban on abortion. Pro-repeal banners declare: "Her choice: vote yes." Anti-abortion placards warn against a "license to kill."

Online, the argument is just as charged — and more shadowy, as unregulated ads of uncertain origin battle to sway voters before Friday's referendum, which could give Irish women the right to end their pregnancies for the first time.

Continued: http://www.samoaobserver.ws/en/22_05_2018/world/33318/Social-media-under-microscope-in-emotive-Irish-abortion-vote.htm

Ireland – Referendum advertising rules hit strategies for final fortnight

Referendum advertising rules hit strategies for final fortnight
No side claim Facebook and Google announcements are the result of Yes lobbying

May 12, 2018
Peter Murtagh

“We are here in Dublin with ProtectThe8th this morning. Pray for us! #warroomsessions”, said the Facebook posting by Fuzati, conveying something of a mixture of giddy excitement and determination.

The photo below the message showed an unkempt room in a Georgian house, complete with Adams-style fireplace, a fine plaster ceiling and a pair of large, closed double doors leading into another room.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-referendum/referendum-advertising-rules-hit-strategies-for-final-fortnight-1.3492141

Ireland – Una Mullally: What was No side up to online that was so crucial?

Una Mullally: What was No side up to online that was so crucial?
Reaction to Facebook and Google referendum ad ban is tactic straight out of Trump playbook

May 11, 2018
Una Mullally

The issue of dubious online campaigning, which for so long was flagged by observers in the run up to the abortion referendum, snapped into focus this week.

While legislators had plenty of time since 2016 to tackle the potential impact of online campaigning or online interference in our democratic process, the digital space remained unregulated as the referendum campaign kicked off.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-referendum/una-mullally-what-was-no-side-up-to-online-that-was-so-crucial-1.3491739

Repeal the Eighth: Ireland to vote on abortion

Repeal the Eighth: Ireland to vote on abortion
Voters to take part in a referendum later this month to decide whether or not to liberalise abortion laws.

by Barbara McCarthy
May 10, 2018

People across Ireland take to the polls on May 25 to vote in a highly anticipated referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment.

First voted into the Irish Constitution in 1983, the Eighth Amendment recognises the right to life of the unborn child, effectively placing a ban on abortion.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/repeal-eighth-ireland-vote-abortion-180508075317347.html

Ireland – Fact check: Will abortion be legalised up to the sixth month of pregnancy?

Fact check: Will abortion be legalised up to the sixth month of pregnancy?
Save the 8th campaign has claimed abortion will be legalised up to six months

May 8, 2018
Sarah Bardon Political Reporter

Question: Will abortion be legalised up to the sixth month of pregnancy?

Who is making the claim?

Save the 8th campaign: “I had no idea they wanted to legalise abortion up to six months.” (Poster assertion)

On what are they basing their claims?

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/fact-check-will-abortion-be-legalised-up-to-the-sixth-month-of-pregnancy-1.3488418

08.05.2018

abortions until 6 months

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

Ireland – Rising number of unregulated online ads in abortion campaign

Rising number of unregulated online ads in abortion campaign
Government may need to seek change in law to govern online campaigning – McEntee

May 2, 2018
Pat Leahy

A Fine Gael Minister, a Fianna Fáil TD and an independent senator have all warned in recent days about the growing proliferation of unregulated online advertisements in the abortion referendum campaign.

Minister for European Affairs Helen McEntee said Government may need to seek a change in the law to govern online campaigning in the future, but encouraged Yes campaigners to “call out” misleading or false advertising by No campaigners.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/rising-number-of-unregulated-online-ads-in-abortion-campaign-1.3481842

Fact check: Does one in every five pregnancies in England end in abortion?

Fact check: Does one in every five pregnancies in England end in abortion?
Save the 8th makes claims about English abortion regime on posters

May 1, 2018
Sarah Bardon

Question

Does one in every five pregnancies in the UK end in an abortion?
Who is making the claim?

The Save the 8th campaign, which opposes the repeal of the Eighth Amendment, makes the claim on one of the group’s posters and in other campaign material. It states that, in England, 1 in 5 babies is aborted. The campaign uses the word “babies” as it considers that life begins at the moment of conception.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/fact-check-does-one-in-every-five-pregnancies-in-england-end-in-abortion-1.3480584

01.05.2018

Featured

abortion rates in England

John McGuirk

National Record of Scotland

Office of National Statistics

Save the 8th

UK Department of Health

Ireland – Anti-abortion group targets hospitals with extreme imagery

Anti-abortion group targets hospitals with extreme imagery
Irish Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform linked to US organisation

May 1, 2018
Peter Murtagh

An anti-abortion group that uses extreme imagery as a deliberate shock tactic has targeted Dublin’s three maternity hospitals with banner-style pictures of dismembered foetuses.

One hospital, the Rotunda, called the gardaí. A senior nurse from another, the National Maternity Hospital (NMH), remonstrated with members of the group, telling them: “Go away. You are disgusting.”

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/anti-abortion-group-targets-hospitals-with-extreme-imagery-1.3480553