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Women's Rights Repeal the 8th: a landmark step forward for Irish women

ON Friday May 25, the Republic of Ireland voted in a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment, introduced in 1983, which prohibits and criminalises abortion by claiming to recognise an equal right to life between a pregnant woman and a foetus.

The vote, with 64 per cent in favour, followed a huge campaign by feminist groups and the labour movement to improve women’s rights by allowing abortions.

While the Irish parliament still has to bring in a law on the matter, the referendum’s success means that women in Ireland may be able to access legal abortions there as opposed to being turned into criminals.

The current law makes it illegal for a woman to have an abortion unless her life is at risk — ruling out terminations in cases of incest, rape, serious damage to the woman’s health, poverty or serious financial difficulty and cases where a woman does not want to become a mother.

Many anti-abortion campaigns claim that terminating a pregnancy is inherently immoral. Women are shamed for going against what it supposedly means to be a woman.

But the eighth amendment prevents women from having a say over their own bodies.

It is honourable that despite the heavy Catholic morale in Ireland, the public have voted to repeal the law that oppresses these women.

In England, Scotland and Wales, abortions are legal up to 24 weeks’ gestation, as a result of the passing of the Abortion Act in 1967, later amended in 1990 to reduce the time limit from 28 weeks.

With the signatures of two doctors, women in these countries can have an free abortion through the NHS.

However, this law doesn’t apply in Northern Ireland, where abortions can only be had legally in very restricted circumstances.

This control over women’s bodies has been much influenced by religion and right-wing politics.

Further afield, matters are more mixed. About a third of the world’s women live in countries where abortion is still highly restricted.

In the United States, despite federal law being supportive, various right-wing state governments have passed restrictions.

Earlier this month, Iowa passed a Bill that ruled out an abortion if a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat — something that can be done after about six weeks, at which point many women don’t realise they are pregnant.

Several states require women to take pre-abortion counselling, in a bid to deter them by scaring and shaming them.

In 27 states, women who seek an abortion must endure a waiting period between counselling and an abortion. This suggests that pregnant women are irrational and need to be “taught” and “guided” into making the correct decision.

But rather than reduce the number of abortions, such restrictions just make abortions more dangerous for women.

If a woman desperately seeks an abortion she will not stop because of geographical restrictions. Many women travel to Britain or other countries with more permissive laws.

But women without that choice face having to have an illegal or unsafe abortion, as for many women an abortion is not a matter of “choice” but necessity.

Those campaigns that claim to care about the “right to life” are ignoring the 47,000 women who die each year from unsafe abortions.

For anti-abortion campaigners the right to life is only relevant when referring to an unborn child, giving a foetus more autonomy and identity than the woman involved. The prohibition of abortion continually oppresses women.

It is sad that the state imposes such restrictions on women’s bodies. Women’s rights have come a long way in recent decades, but anti-abortion laws still remain a huge problem.

It is wrong that a woman may have to go through a pregnancy that she does not want. It is wrong that her body should endure whatever the state decides to make her suffer. It is our demand as feminists and empathetic people that women can make their own choices based on their own personal circumstances.

The looming repeal of the eighth amendment is a step in the right direction and acknowledges the deprivation of women’s choices.

There needs to be a shift in looking at abortion rights towards looking more broadly at reproductive rights. Abortion is a very small part of the picture of women’s reproductive justice.

Not only should women have access to safe and legal abortions, but also to free contraceptives, free childcare, healthcare, social support for domestic abuse victims and so much more.

Before we think of the foetus and its “right to life” we should think about the actual pregnant women and their right to life.

It is ironic how anti-abortion campaigns promote the pro-life rhetoric, but don’t care about the right to life after the baby is born.

Likewise, the state restricts abortions but then doesn’t provide any help to the mother once that child is born. In Britain, there is no free childcare for mothers. Additionally, child benefits are capped after a second child, so that some mothers literally cannot afford to have a third child. Even when women have the choice of an abortion, they don’t really have free reproductive choice.

We can hope that the Irish referendum will influence change in abortion laws worldwide, especially in Northern Ireland. And perhaps these changes will help in getting reproductive justice for women.

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