Revision notes: The 8th Amendment
What is it? A clause inserted into the Irish constitution in 1983 to stop Supreme Court interpretations which would have allow limited abortion to become legal in Ireland.
How does it work? By giving the “unborn” the right to life in the constitution any action against the unborn (e.g. a termination) would be interpreted as being unconstitutional.
What do Irish women in crisis pregnancies do? Head to the UK. The Abortion Act of 1967 made access to the treatment much easier for Irish women and infanticide (mothers killing their babies just after birth) declined sharply in Ireland.
What did they do before 1967? Back street abortion. All contraception was banned in Ireland from 1935.
When did contraception become legal? 1980.
So backstreet abortions must have been a major problem? Procuring a miscarriage [an abortion] was a criminal offence subject to penal servitude for life in Ireland (1861 Offences against the person Act). Around a hundred Irish women were dying annually from unsafe backstreet abortions in the 1930s. A chemist running an abortion practice in Merrion Square in Dublin was given a 15-year sentence in 1944. And an Irish woman, Mamie Cadden, was sentenced to death by hanging, in 1957, as one of her patients had died from complications after an abortion. Many Irish women had backstreet abortions in England too (if they could afford to travel there).
Any problems with the 8th? Yes. Lots.
Go on… First the X case. An injunction was sought to prevent a thirteen-year-old girl who had been the victim of rape from getting an abortion in England as she was suicidal.
Was she allowed go? Yes. Eventually. High Court. Supreme Court. Then another referendum was put to the Irish people (12th Amendment) to see if they agreed that suicidal pregnant women should be prevented from getting abortions abroad. It didn’t pass. 65% of Irish people decided they should be allowed. Another referendum (13th) had to be held to check whether pregnant women were allowed to travel (for abortions). That one passed. We were all ok with the weirdness. We knew that lots of women would still be travelling for holidays, work and shopping – never mind the abortions.
Do men have a constitutional right to travel? I guess so. The constitutional amendment about travel was a subsection to the eighth Amendment which was about women and the unborn. The eighth was never about men in the first place.
Any other problems? Yes. Another referendum was needed about whether pregnant women had the right to information about abortions in other countries but NOT the right to information about abortions in Ireland (which couldn’t happen here anyway as they were illegal).
Isn’t that a circular kind of argument? Probably. I’m getting a headache.
Any other problems? Yes. It’s complicated. A, B and C cases. Then a woman dying from sepsis during a miscarriage while she was in an Irish hospital. It seems there was some doubt – the doctors weren’t sure they could constitutionally terminate her pregnancy while a foetal heart beat could still be heard.
Can Irish women order internet abortion pills? Is the pope a Catholic?
Isn’t that dangerous if unsupervised? Yes.
Any good films on abortion? Yes. Mike Leigh’s film Vera Drake gets across the two sides pretty effectively.
What not to say I know a woman who had an abortion.
What to say Ireland is the happiest little country in the world.
What is it? A clause inserted into the Irish constitution in 1983 to stop Supreme Court interpretations which would have allow limited abortion to become legal in Ireland.
How does it work? By giving the “unborn” the right to life in the constitution any action against the unborn (e.g. a termination) would be interpreted as being unconstitutional.
What do Irish women in crisis pregnancies do? Head to the UK. The Abortion Act of 1967 made access to the treatment much easier for Irish women and infanticide (mothers killing their babies just after birth) declined sharply in Ireland.
What did they do before 1967? Back street abortion. All contraception was banned in Ireland from 1935.
When did contraception become legal? 1980.
So backstreet abortions must have been a major problem? Procuring a miscarriage [an abortion] was a criminal offence subject to penal servitude for life in Ireland (1861 Offences against the person Act). Around a hundred Irish women were dying annually from unsafe backstreet abortions in the 1930s. A chemist running an abortion practice in Merrion Square in Dublin was given a 15-year sentence in 1944. And an Irish woman, Mamie Cadden, was sentenced to death by hanging, in 1957, as one of her patients had died from complications after an abortion. Many Irish women had backstreet abortions in England too (if they could afford to travel there).
Any problems with the 8th? Yes. Lots.
Go on… First the X case. An injunction was sought to prevent a thirteen-year-old girl who had been the victim of rape from getting an abortion in England as she was suicidal.
Was she allowed go? Yes. Eventually. High Court. Supreme Court. Then another referendum was put to the Irish people (12th Amendment) to see if they agreed that suicidal pregnant women should be prevented from getting abortions abroad. It didn’t pass. 65% of Irish people decided they should be allowed. Another referendum (13th) had to be held to check whether pregnant women were allowed to travel (for abortions). That one passed. We were all ok with the weirdness. We knew that lots of women would still be travelling for holidays, work and shopping – never mind the abortions.
Do men have a constitutional right to travel? I guess so. The constitutional amendment about travel was a subsection to the eighth Amendment which was about women and the unborn. The eighth was never about men in the first place.
Any other problems? Yes. Another referendum was needed about whether pregnant women had the right to information about abortions in other countries but NOT the right to information about abortions in Ireland (which couldn’t happen here anyway as they were illegal).
Isn’t that a circular kind of argument? Probably. I’m getting a headache.
Any other problems? Yes. It’s complicated. A, B and C cases. Then a woman dying from sepsis during a miscarriage while she was in an Irish hospital. It seems there was some doubt – the doctors weren’t sure they could constitutionally terminate her pregnancy while a foetal heart beat could still be heard.
Can Irish women order internet abortion pills? Is the pope a Catholic?
Isn’t that dangerous if unsupervised? Yes.
Any good films on abortion? Yes. Mike Leigh’s film Vera Drake gets across the two sides pretty effectively.
What not to say I know a woman who had an abortion.
What to say Ireland is the happiest little country in the world.
© copyright Alison Hackett 24 May 2018
Blog posted online the day before the Referendum to Repeal the 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution (25 May 2018)
Blog posted online the day before the Referendum to Repeal the 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution (25 May 2018)