From the Grassroots to the Oireachtas: Abortion Law Reform in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

In 1983, voters inserted the Eighth Amendment into Ireland’s constitution, equating the right to life of a fetus with that of a pregnant person. Hundreds of thousands of women were forced overseas to access basic health care and thousands more were forced underground, importing abortion pills and risking prosecution. The realities of life under the Eighth Amendment sparked a powerful feminist grassroots struggle for abortion access. This article charts the path to abortion law reform in the Republic of Ireland from the perspective of grassroots activists in the Abortion Rights Campaign (ARC). The first half highlights the national and international policy mechanisms that activists leveraged to bring Ireland’s abortion regime to the point of reform, as well as the power of challenging abortion stigma to mobilize the public and politicians, culminating in a resounding vote in May 2018 to repeal the Eighth Amendment. The second half analyzes the legislation enacted in late 2018 in order to give effect to the vote. While the new law and its commitment to free abortion is a momentous step for Ireland, it also establishes a needlessly cumbersome regime that remains grounded in a criminal law framework and incorporates barriers that have no grounding in medical evidence.