1. ‘Repeal the 8th’: Prospects for Reform in Irish Abortion Law
Professor Fiona de Londras @fdelond
University College, Oxford 26 April 2016

2. Abortion Law in Ireland
Bunreacht na hÉireann 1937; OAPA 1861
Constitution and identity (Chubb)
Popular sovereignty and the Constitution
‘Carrying over’ pre-’22 laws & the non-repugnancy clause
The lived reality of reproductive autonomy

3. Abortion Law in Ireland
8th Amendment, 1983 (Article )
The State 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.

4. Abortion Law in Ireland
Attorney General v X [1992] 1 IR 1
…real and substantial risk to the life, rather than the health, of the mother…
13th & 14th amendments

5. Abortion Law in Ireland
A, B & C v Ireland (ECHR)
Death of Savita Halappanavar
Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013
‘Ms Y’ & ‘Ms P’

6. Resisting the 8th Solidarity & support Public disobedience & protest
Performance protest
Engagement with IHRL institutions
Political campaigning
‘Coming out’

7. Reform without Repeal? Decriminalisation ‘Fatal foetal abnormalities’
Reduced process
But the key barriers would remain
Constitutional protection of foetal life
‘Viability’ threshold
Lack of content in ‘as far as practicable’
‘Risk to life’ threshold

8. The 8th Amendment: Challenges for Repeal
Constitutional identity & the particular position of Ireland as moral protector of the foetus (Fletcher)
Construction of pro choice positions as a form of internationalist neo-colonialism (de Londras)
Abortion & human rights unhelpfully entangled (Smyth)
Ireland as an international, strategic ‘battlefield’ in abortion rights (D. Quinn, ‘Ireland’s culture war’, “Ireland’s pro-life civil war”)
‘Balance’ and imbalance in public discussions (form of guerilla anti-abortion activism? ref McGuinness)
Dissonance between institutional embeddedness of anti-abortion positioning & popular desire for change
Different campaign structures & forms

9. The 8th Amendment: a post-repeal legacy?
Political caution (and over-statement of costs?)
Attempts to form a government in 2016 & the reported role of 8th Amendment in talks
‘X Case light’? Example: Labour Party proposals
“real and substantial”--an immeasurable concept?
Minimal access (‘rape, incest, FFA’)—the apparent narrowness of the general consensus—what happens re “bad” abortions?
Conscientious objection & meaningful access (“dirty work”, ref McGuinness)
Medical & legal training