Ireland- Dáil votes to fully decriminalise abortion

Legislation providing for the complete decriminalisation of abortion and the abolition of the mandatory three-day waiting period before an abortion can be carried out has been approved by TDs.

1 JUN 2023
Bríd Smith

The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Amendment) Bill 2023, introduced by People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith, was approved by 67–64 with eight abstentions after government TDs were given a free vote.

A proposal by health minister Stephen Donnelly to delay the progress of the bill for a year to allow the Oireachtas health committee to fully consider the recommendations of a recent review led by Marie O’Shea BL was defeated by a greater margin of 74–61 with three abstentions.

Continued: https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/dail-votes-to-fully-decriminalise-abortion

01.06.2023

News

Brid Smith

decriminalisation of abortion

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Amendment) Bill 2023

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill

Ireland – Woman denied abortion in Dublin despite new legislation

Woman denied abortion in Dublin despite new legislation
Hospital’s decision has raised questions over introduction of abortion services in Ireland

Rory Carroll, Ireland correspondent
Fri 18 Jan 2019

A hospital in Dublin has refused an abortion to a woman with a fatal foetal abnormality, raising questions over Ireland’s recent introduction of abortion services.

The Coombe hospital, a leading maternity facility that has signed up to the service, reportedly declined to terminate the pregnancy because it did not “fall neatly” into a fatal foetal abnormality diagnosis.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/18/woman-denied-abortion-in-dublin

Ireland – Woman ‘refused’ abortion will travel to United Kingdom

Woman ‘refused’ abortion will travel to United Kingdom
‘This is not what the people of Ireland voted for. This is not what I voted for’

Jan 17, 2019
Kitty Holland, Social Affairs Correspondent

The pregnant woman who the Dáil heard was denied an abortion despite two consultants’ approval has said she will travel to England next week for a termination.

She said she had not wanted to speak to the media initially but spoke to The Irish Times after the Coombe Hospital issued a statement.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/woman-refused-abortion-will-travel-to-united-kingdom-1.3762063

17.01.2019

fatal foetal abnormality

People before profit

Ruth Coppinger

woman refused abortion

‘Sheer Joy’: Ireland Will Have Free Abortion Care on January 1

‘Sheer Joy’: Ireland Will Have Free Abortion Care on January 1

Dec 17, 2018
Sarah Jaffe

Abortion in Ireland will be free, safe, and legal up to 12 weeks into pregnancy starting January 1, a major blow to the Catholic Church and opponents of the country’s abortion rights law, who tried to drag out the legislative process with support from U.S. anti-choice advisers.

To Bríd Smith, People Before Profit member of Irish parliament, the repeal of the Eighth Amendment banning abortion in Ireland was “one of those rare moments in life when you feel such joy, the sheer joy of beating back the Catholic Church’s agenda, really beating it back for once. And pride, because we put a huge amount of effort into it and had witnessed a new generation of young Irish people completely different to what we had known.”

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2018/12/17/sheer-joy-ireland-will-have-free-abortion-care-on-january-1/

Ireland – Miriam Lord: It’s like the abortion referendum never happened

Miriam Lord: It’s like the abortion referendum never happened
Mattie McGrath blew a gasket at suggestions he might have been filibustering

Dec 5, 2018
Miriam Lord
...
And once more, all the issues which have already been examined and discussed inside out and upside down in both houses of the Oireachtas and in various committee rooms will be discussed for as long as certain Senators can possibly make it until the Bill finally passes into law.

But there was going to be no rehashing in the Seanad until certain TDs had rehashed themselves to a procedural standstill in the Dáil. They had no intention of going quietly.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/miriam-lord-it-s-like-the-abortion-referendum-never-happened-1.3721649

Ireland – Abortion Bill to attract resubmitted amendments by TDs

Abortion Bill to attract resubmitted amendments by TDs
Both sides to continue with efforts to modify legislation at report stage later in November

Nov 11, 2018
Pat Leahy

Both anti-abortion and pro-choice TDs will continue their attempts to amend the abortion legislation when it returns to the Dáil for report stage later this month.

The Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill, which will legalise abortion following the referendum on the constitutional amendment in May, passed its committee stage this week after three days of sometimes fractious hearings.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-bill-to-attract-resubmitted-amendments-by-tds-1.3694265

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

On the Ground in Ireland: Fighting to Repeal Abortion Ban

On the Ground in Ireland: Fighting to Repeal Abortion Ban
Ireland's abortion ban "was a disaster for women’s rights, it was a disaster for the education of Irish children, but it really infected every aspect of Irish society and we are still undoing the legacy of this.”

May 23, 2018
Sarah Jaffe

In 1983, when Irish people voted in the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, the county of Donegal had some of the highest vote totals for the near-total abortion ban via fetal “personhood.” More than 80 percent of voters in the rural northwest of Ireland voted for the amendment. It was therefore a surprise to see it dotted with bright pink “yes” signs reading “Our Bodies, Our Choice” Monday and Tuesday before the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment.

The pink signs that I saw most often are from People Before Profit, a socialist party that organizes and holds elected office in the Republic of Ireland as well as in Northern Ireland, and I accompanied its canvassers into Donegal to see about the state of things in this conservative part of Ireland.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2018/05/23/ground-ireland-fighting-repeal-abortion-ban/

Ireland – People before Profit wants abortion as early and as late as needed

People before Profit wants abortion as early and as late as needed
Party will support Government’s proposition for abortion within first trimester

April 27, 2018
Sarah Bardon

Any legislation that replaces the Eighth Amendment should not be reconsidered for a Dáil term, People before Profit has said.

The party launched its campaign to remove Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution in the forthcoming referendum on May 25th.

Every member of the party is canvassing for a Yes vote and its message is one of trusting women and giving them the choice, it said.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/people-before-profit-wants-abortion-as-early-and-as-late-as-needed-1.3476984

27.04.2018

Ireland: Bill to reduce abortion prison sentence to €1 fine to be brought before Dáil

Bill to reduce abortion prison sentence to €1 fine to be brought before Dáil

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

A Bill to reduce the 14 year prison sentence for women who have abortions down to a €1 fine is to be brought before the Dáil, writes Elaine Loughlin, Irish Examiner Political Reporter.

People Before Profit have launched the bill in a bid to address a law which they claim is "utterly draconian and barbaric".

The group had tried to introduce a Bill which would have totally decriminalised abortions in Ireland, but were prevented from doing so as it was deemed unconstitutional.

Continued at source: Irish Examiner: http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/bill-to-reduce-abortion-prison-sentence-to-1-fine-to-be-brought-before-dail-778168.html