Women’s rights victory in southern Ireland, now northern Ireland

By Steve Sweeney:

Monday, May 28, 2018

Ireland’s historic vote sparks pressure for change in the north

IRELAND’S historic abortion vote has fuelled calls for reform in the North, with Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald saying it was time for the six counties to adopt the same legislation.

Irish citizens flew in from across the world on Friday with more than two million casting their vote. An overwhelming 66.4 per cent voted in favour of repealing the law, paving the way for the legalisation of abortion.

The vote was expected by many to be close with polls leading into the final day showing yes with a slender lead of 54-46 over a no vote. With between 14 per cent and 20 per cent undecided neither side was ready to concede.

But with a 64.5 per cent turnout – higher than the 2015 same-sex marriage referendum – Ireland voted by an overwhelming majority to repeal the eighth amendment.

Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald said: “We have without doubt done right by Irish women for this generation and many to come.”

Holding a banner reading “the North is next” then she called on the North to give women the same rights as those in the south.

The Northern Ireland-based Alliance for Choice welcomed the result, with campaigner Danielle Roberts saying: “We are proud to have played a small part in solidarity campaigning with our friends in Ireland, and we will continue with that solidarity until it is no longer needed.

“We also gratefully acknowledge the offers we have already had, in solidarity from the south, to work towards the change that is still so urgently needed in Northern Ireland.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May now faces pressure to act in the north of Ireland – but her fragile grip on power rests on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who strongly oppose changes to abortion laws.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar welcomed the vote and said it was “a day when we say no more. No more doctors telling their patients there’s nothing can be done for them in their own country, no more lonely journeys across the Irish Sea, no more stigma as the veil of secrecy is lifted and no more isolation as the burden of shame is gone.”

And Health Minister Simon Harris said the people of Ireland had shown that they “want to live in a country that treats women with compassion.”

“Under the Eighth Amendment, women in crisis pregnancy have been told take the plane, take the boat, today we tell them take our hand.

“Under the Eighth Amendment, women in crisis have been told you’re on your own. Today we say: we will stand with you”, he said.

The vote was welcomed as a major advance for women’s rights in a country where the once dominant Catholic Church played a key role in pushing and promoting the 1983 constitutional amendment that saw the “right of an unborn child” given equal status to the right of a mother.

The Communist Party of Ireland welcomed the result and paid tribute to those who “never gave up” in the 35-year struggle for the repeal of the eighth amendment. But it warned that there was still a long way to go to achieve equality.

“The next phase in this democratic struggle is ensuring that the establishment parties deliver what they have promised regarding legislation in relation to abortion”, the party said in a statement.

Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ITUC) general secretary Patricia King said the organisation had “always been consistent in our belief that reproductive health should not be determined by the provisions of the constitution” and remembered those forced to “silently seek treatment away from family and friends over the decades, in secret and in fear.”

The government will work on draft legislation which will allow for abortion without restrictions up to 12 weeks and up to 23 weeks in some circumstances, including rape and health reasons.

It promised to pass the legislation by the end of the year.

Ireland voted by a wide margin on Friday to repeal the reactionary Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution and legalise abortion on demand. The unexpectedly decisive outcome is a blow to the authority of the Catholic Church. It will strengthen demands for anti-abortion laws to be relaxed or repealed in Northern Ireland. … Currently, women face up to 14 years in jail for having an abortion, and thousands every year make the emotionally gruelling trip to Britain for termination. … Among women under the age of 25, 90 percent voted in favour.: here.