Abortion Law Reform in Ireland: A Model for Change

Authors

  • Mairead Enright University of Kent.
  • Vicky Conway Dublin City University
  • Fiona de Londras Durham University
  • Mary Donnelly University College Cork
  • Ruth Fletcher Queen Mary University of London
  • Natalie McDonnell Barrister-at-Law
  • Sheelagh McGuinness University of Birmingham
  • Claire Murray University College Cork
  • Sinead Ring University of Kent
  • Sorcha ui Chonnachtaigh Keele University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/03/fal.173

Keywords:

abortion, law reform, Republic of Ireland, Irish Constitution, 8th Amendment

Abstract

Ireland has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. Abortion has been criminalised since 1861, and the passage of the 8th Amendment in 1983 introduced ‘the right to life of the unborn’ into the Constitution. The effects of the 8th Amendment are felt on a daily basis by women leaving Ireland for abortion, by pregnant women receiving maternal care, by doctors caring for pregnant women, and by lawyers working for the health service. As predicted by the then-Attorney General Peter Sutherland at the time of the referendum, the 8th Amendment has introduced an uncertain and practically unusable position to Irish law. It has, simply put, become “unliveable”.

In late 2014 Labour Women, a branch of the Irish Labour Party, established a Commission for Repeal of the 8th Amendment. That Commission comprised three groups: a political group, a medical group, and a group of legal experts. The authors of this paper are those legal experts. In this paper, we first outline the legal status quo as regards abortion in Ireland before making a case for constitutional reform. Having established the desirability of, and need for, constitutional reform we then outline the working principles that informed our drafting of the accompanying Access to Abortion Bill 2015, bearing in mind our intention to craft a model for reform that would be workable from the perspective of women’s lives, medical practice, and politics. Although drafted as part of the Labour Women Commission, and with some (limited) input from the other Commission groups, the proposed draft is that of the authors of this paper (working within the confines of our remit as ‘legal experts’ to the Commission) and not of the Labour Party or of Labour Women. It is made available here for discussion, debate and development by all interested parties.

 

Author Biographies

Mairead Enright, University of Kent.

Lecturer, Kent Law School, University of Kent, UK.

Vicky Conway, Dublin City University

Lecturer, School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Ireland.

Fiona de Londras, Durham University

Professor of Law, Durham University, UK (until 31 July 2015); Chair in Global Legal Studies, Law School, University of Birmingham, UK (from 1 August 2015).

Mary Donnelly, University College Cork

Senior Lecturer, UCC School of Law, Ireland.

Ruth Fletcher, Queen Mary University of London

Senior Lecturer, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, UK.

Natalie McDonnell, Barrister-at-Law

Barrister-at-Law, Law Library, Dublin, Ireland.

Sheelagh McGuinness, University of Birmingham

Birmingham Fellow, Law School, University of Birmingham, UK (until 31 July 2015); Senior Lecturer, Law School, University of Bristol, UK (from 1 August 2015).

Claire Murray, University College Cork

Lecturer in Law, UCC School of Law, Ireland.

Sinead Ring, University of Kent

Lecturer, Kent Law School, University of Kent, UK.

Sorcha ui Chonnachtaigh, Keele University

Lecturer in Ethics and Law, Law School, Keele University, UK.

Published

28-06-2015

How to Cite

Enright, M., Conway, V., de Londras, F., Donnelly, M., Fletcher, R., McDonnell, N., … ui Chonnachtaigh, S. (2015). Abortion Law Reform in Ireland: A Model for Change. Feminists@law, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/03/fal.173

Issue

Section

Abortion Law Reform in Ireland