The Catholic Church is absent in Ireland’s abortion referendum
Abortion in Ireland is like gay marriage, emblematic of moving on from a religious past

Melanie McDonagh
5 May 2018

The Irish referendum on abortion takes place in just under three weeks’ time, and while the polls suggest a hefty majority in favour, the narrative of inexorable change towards a more liberal Ireland sometimes goes off script. At a feminist forum last month, the anarchic grande dame of Irish republican feminism, Nell McCafferty, 74, brooded out loud: ‘I’ve been trying to make up my mind on abortion. Is it the killing of a human being?’ She couldn’t answer. ‘But it’s not that I’m unable — I am unwilling to face some of the facts about abortion.’

Continued: https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/05/the-catholic-church-is-absent-in-irelands-abortion-referendum/