Ireland – Independent review of abortion laws should not be treated as ‘gospel’, says Varadkar  

The review recommended several changes to Irish abortion laws, including scrapping the three-day ‘cooling off’ period.

June 2, 2023

AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW of Ireland’s abortion laws should not be treated as “gospel” that should be implemented without question, the Taoiseach has insisted.

Leo Varadkar also expressed concern that the debate around potential changes to the legal framework was too focused on politics and personalities, rather than about what was best for women and children.

Continued: https://www.thejournal.ie/abortion-law-reviews-taoiseach-leo-varadkar-6084509-Jun2023/


Ireland – Chambers apologises for ‘hurt’ over remark on abortion regret

Chambers apologises for 'hurt' over remark on abortion regret

Cormac McQuinn
December 2 2018

Fianna Fail TD Lisa Chambers has apologised for any hurt caused when she said abortion regret is a "makey-uppy thing" during a heated debate in the Dail.

It came after Woman Hurt, a group of women who regret having abortions, claimed the remarks were "ignorant and offensive".

Continued: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/chambers-apologises-for-hurt-over-remark-on-abortion-regret-37585756.html


Abortion reform will not be in place until next year, Varadkar says

Abortion reform will not be in place until next year, Varadkar says
Taoiseach warns that clinical guidelines will need to be drawn up as well as legislation

May 29, 2018
Michael O'Regan, Maire O'Halloran

It will be January of next year before full effect is given to the will of the people as expressed in the abortion referendum, the Taoiseach has said.

Leo Varadkar said it was not just a matter of legislating for the issue in the Dáil and Seanad, but that clinical guidelines would have to be drawn up as well.

“It will be necessary to regulate and license new medicines.”

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-referendum/abortion-reform-will-not-be-in-place-until-next-year-varadkar-says-1.3512668


Ireland – Yes campaign’s outreach to middle ground delivered the landslide

Yes campaign’s outreach to middle ground delivered the landslide
Undecideds swung in huge numbers to Yes, as politicians struggled to keep up with pace of change

May 27, 2018
Pat Leahy

Politicians and politics are playing catch-up, following Friday’s vote. It happened before, with contraception, divorce and homosexuality. Now it has happened with abortion.

It’s not so much that the vote will change our society, but rather that it signals that society has already changed. It has conceded to women power over their own lives that had been previously withheld by the State.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-referendum/yes-campaign-s-outreach-to-middle-ground-delivered-the-landslide-1.3510338


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


Ireland – Yes vote shows overwhelming desire for change that nobody foresaw

Yes vote shows overwhelming desire for change that nobody foresaw
Old assumptions about the urban/rural divide proved to be wrong

May 25, 2018
Fiach Kelly Deputy Political Editor

The findings of The Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI exit poll, if borne out when the result of the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution is announced, illustrate an overwhelming desire for change that nobody had foreseen.

The victory for the Yes campaign looks set to be neither narrow nor based on a few segments of Irish society. Rather, it will be carried high on the shoulders of a majority across the entire country.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/yes-vote-shows-overwhelming-desire-for-change-that-nobody-foresaw-1.3508879


Pat Leahy: One way or the other, the referendum will change Irish politics

Pat Leahy: One way or the other, the referendum will change Irish politics
A Yes vote will alter the political landscape; a No vote could upend it

May 19, 2018
Pat Leahy

Next Friday’s referendum will be an enormously consequential event for Irish society. But it will also have immediate political consequences which very few of the political class appear to have thought through.

Whatever the result, it will change Irish politics. Lots of people say: but the marriage referendum didn’t change anything in politics. They’re right. It didn’t. But I think this referendum will.

Continued; https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/pat-leahy-one-way-or-the-other-the-referendum-will-change-irish-politics-1.3500411


Ireland – Google ad ban delivers major blow to No campaign

Google ad ban delivers major blow to No campaign
Surprise move deprives anti-abortion campaigners of key strategic element
May 10, 2018
Pat Leahy

Google’s decision to ban all ads related to the abortion referendum has been welcomed by repeal campaigners but sharply criticised by the No campaign, which called the move “scandalous” and “an attempt to rig the referendum”.

Google’s surprise move to ban all ads comes a day after Facebook said it would ban all online ads about the referendum from foreign sources. The Google decision goes much further, and deprives anti-abortion campaigners of a key element of their strategy for the final two weeks of the campaign.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/google-ad-ban-delivers-major-blow-to-no-campaign-1.3489623


Fianna Fáil leader criticises ‘offensive’ anti-abortion claims

Fianna Fáil leader criticises ‘offensive’ anti-abortion claims
Micheál Martin says Eighth Amendment ‘cruelly insensitive’ to women of Ireland

May 9, 2018
Sarah Bardon

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has criticised “dishonest and offensive” campaigning by some anti-abortion groups, claiming they are deliberately spreading inaccuracies about what a Yes vote in the May 25th referendum will mean.

Mr Martin rejected the suggestion that repealing the Eighth Amendment would lead to unlimited abortions or late-term terminations.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-referendum/fianna-f%C3%A1il-leader-criticises-offensive-anti-abortion-claims-1.3489596