Policy change comes following unanimous victory at the polls
On Friday, May 25, the people of the Republic of Ireland voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment of their constitution. The Eighth Amendment acknowledges “the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.” This amendment, which was created in 1983, is the basis of the very strict abortion laws in the Republic of Ireland.
With a 64 per cent voter turnout, there were 1,429,981 votes cast in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment, an overwhelming majority. This vote was very important to many — particularly young women. Irish citizens living abroad from all over the world travelled home to be able to vote, as they were unable to vote from outside the country.
The repeal of the Eighth Amendment was supported by the Republic of Ireland’s government. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar had been encouraging the country to vote in favour of the repeal with various Facebook posts since mid-April.
In a speech following the vote, Varadkar stated that: “Ireland today is the same country as it was last week, but just a little bit more tolerant, more open, and more respectful.”The referendum created the Thirty-sixth Amendment to the constitution which now reads that the “provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy.” This change was passed by Ireland’s national parliament, the Houses of Oireachtas, on March 28.
The Republic of Ireland is generally a very conservative country, with strong ties to the Catholic Church. Despite this fact, the public had wanted a change to the abortion laws for years. Prior to the recent repeal, abortion was strictly illegal with few exceptions. One such exception was if the woman was at risk of self-destruction. In 1992, the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments were passed, which allowed women to travel abroad to get an abortion (often to the UK). The amendments also allowed for information regarding abortion in other countries to be obtained and published.
The 2012 passing of 31-year-old dentist, Savita Halappanavar of Galway, impacted many people and had a significant presence at the vote in late May. In 2012, the Irish Times reported that Halappanavar was admitted to the hospital in extreme pain and was told that she was miscarrying. She asked for her pregnancy to be terminated but was refused because the fetus still had a heartbeat. After two days of pain during miscarriage, the fetus’ heartbeat stopped and was therefore allowed to be removed. Halappanavar died a couple days later of septicaemia, a form of blood poisoning caused by bacteria or other toxins. Some people have stated that an abortion could have saved Halappanavar’s life.
The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) notes that these strict abortion laws concerned the UN’s Human Rights Committee. The committee subsequently made note of their issues with the laws in 2000, 2005, and 2008 during various reports.
Prime Minister Varadkar has stated that the government will bring legislation in as soon as possible. On May 29, Simon Harris, the minister for health, tweeted that he has received approval to draft a new law. Harris tweeted again on May 31 stating that he is meeting with the government to discuss their next steps.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons via CC0