4 articles
2nd is Irish struggle for abortion rights  (1983 - 1992)
3rd is The Censorship of Abortion Information Act, 1995
4th is Freedom of choice


******** Abortion: A Woman's Right to Choose **********
                 from Workers Solidarity No 34
                                       (1992)

Anarchists believe that every woman has the 
right to choose an abortion when faced with a 
crisis pregnancy irrespective of the reasons for 
the abortion.  At least 40,000 Irish women have 
abortions in England every year at present.  
Women worldwide have always sought to control 
their fertility through abortion no matter how 
difficult it is for them to get access to abortion 
and they probably always will.  This is because it 
is essential for women to be able to control their 
own fertility and not to be reduced to the level of 
their biological function as child-bearers only if 
they are to achieve true equality and liberation. 

At present the Irish Constitution with the the Eight 
Amendment reduces women to being equal only to a 
completely dependent foetus and it tries to condemn women 
to become unwilling incubators.  To compare an adult 
woman or teenage girl with responsibilities, social 
relationships, personal plans, and so on to a completely 
dependent foetus is unacceptable.  The foetus has no 
independent existence without the woman and the decision 
about an abortion or a continuation of the pregnancy must 
be the woman's decision and no one else's.

Women choose to have abortions for all kinds of reasons:  
poverty, bad health, too many other children, because of 
rape or incest or simply because they do not want to have a 
child at that point in their lives.  We believe that all these 
reasons are valid.  Women should not have to answer to 
anyone, not the church,not the state or even to doctors for 
their decision.  This raises the question of abortion on 
demand.  We oppose any kind of decision making process 
involving ethics committees or doctors or other variations 
on this.  A woman must have the right to abortion on 
demand.

The question of free access is a very important one.  At 
present only those women who can afford both the travel 
costs and the operation costs can get an abortion.  Abortion 
facilities must be made available here in Ireland and they 
must be free as all medical services should be.

Censorship of information on abortion is a totally insulting 
attack on womens' most basic rights as thinking human 
beings to know what all the options are when they are 
faced with a crisis pregnancy.  To deny women information, 
to take books out of libraries, censor magazines containing 
telephone numbers, all these actions treat women as 
irresponsible children whose moral decisions need to be 
policed by small groups of right wing bigots.

The hypocrisy of allowing women to go to England for 
abortions is no longer acceptable to many Irish people. 
Apart from all other considerations, having to raise the 
money for the travel and to go isolated and afraid to 
another country adds untold trauma to what should be a 
fairly simple medical procedure.  Abortion facilities must be 
made available in Ireland free and without restricted access.

Anarchists believe that a woman's right to choose also 
means the right to choose to have a child and to have 
decent housin, child care and welfare facilities available in 
order to raise that  child in a reasonable way and in order 
that her life is not totally given over to child care.  At 
present with the current housing crisis the almost total 
lack of free child care and the lousy welfare payments this is 
not a real choice.  

We are opposed to all forms of forced fertility control, 
whether it is the state imposing limits on the number of 
children a woman can have as in China or the denial of 
proper contraceptive and abortion facilities as in this 
country.  The right to choose means the right to choose not 
to have a child or to have a child in circumstances where 
that means that neither mother nor child suffer materially 
or socially for that decision.
 
Anti-abortionists say that abortion is murder.  We reject 
this argument.   The foetus is a potential life only  - it is 
not comparable to the life of a person of any age or ability 
who interacts socially and functions independently.  We 
don't deny that abortion takes the life of a potential human 
being.  The right to choose means that it is the woman's 
right to choose whether to bring that potential life to full 
term or not given the circumstances of her life.   As 
anarchists we demand that right and we will be active in 
the campaign for abortion rights in this country over the 
coming months.

Patricia McCarthy

*** Irish struggle for abortion rights  (1983 - 1992) ***
           from Workers Solidarity No 35
                                 (1992)

IN 1983 anti-choice campaigners pushed the government 
into holding a referendum on abortion.  The Eight 
Amendment was then passed by 33% of the electorate (the 
turn out was 54.6%).  Abortion was already prohibited 
under the 1861 Offences Against the Persons Act.  The 
Eight Amendment copperfastened this ban preventing any 
reforming legislation.

SPUC's next step was to take those clinics which 
provided non-directive counseling to court.  In the 
Hamiliton Judgement of 1987 the High Court placed 
injunctions on the Well Women Centre and on Open-Line 
Counseling prohibiting them from operating non-directive 
counseling services.  The clinics failed in their appeal 
to the Supreme Court. 

The ruling by Justice Finlay extended the Hamiliton 
interpretation by declaring the imparting of any 
information relating to the procurement of abortion to 
be unlawful.  It was this ruling that was then used to 
take the Student Unions to court.  The Well Woman Centre 
and the Open-Line Counseling service then took their 
case to the European Court of Human Rights.  

The Defend the Clinics Campaign attempted to get 
liberal/left Irish politicians to raise the issue but 
many like Emmet Stagg and Micheal D Higgins of the 
Labour party refused to give even paper support, 
frightened for their D‡il seats.

Student Unions
SPUC continued on the offensive, taking the Union of 
Students in Ireland (USI), Trinity College and UCD 
Student Union to court.  SPUC lost the case initially on 
very dubious grounds.  There was a large amount of 
publicity surrounding the case arising from student 
demonstrations outside the courts.  At the last moment 
the Justice that was supposed to hear the case was 
replaced by Irelands only female judge, Justice Mella 
Carroll.  

She ruled that all the evidence against the students was  
hearsay and so could not be used.  This is in spite of 
the fact that the students had widely said in newspapers 
and interviews that they would provide abortion 
information and had included it in Student Union guide 
books.  The judgement seemed to be a cop out for the 
Irish ruling class who did not want to be seen to be 
sending students to jail for contempt of court.  

This ruling was appealed by SPUC who won, a temporary 
injunction being placed on the Student Unions.  The 
Students Unions are being brought back to court by SPUC 
on July 19th this year in order to have this injunction 
made permanent.

The student union campaign took two turns.  The 
leadership within the Unions toned down the level of 
campaigning on the issue, concentrating solely on 
appealing to Europe.  Those activists that argued that 
the law should be publicly broken were told that we 
would be jeopardising the case by angering the judges.  
In the end the European Court found that the Students 
Unions could not give out abortion information.  

It is still illegal to give out information on abortion.  
Within the individual student unions, many anti-choice 
groups held referenda aimed at overturning the Unions' 
mandate to distribute information.  These anti-choice 
groups only succeeded in reversing a pro-information 
policy in one of the universities, UCD.  However they 
were defeated in all but one of the Regional Technical 
Colleges.  Overall, more students voted for giving out 
abortion information than against.

While the Student Union leaders waited for Europe, the 
Abortion Information groups in most universities ceased 
to exist.  Meanwhile the Censorship of Publications Act  
was used to ban books and sections of magazines which 
contained information on where to get an abortion.  
Cosmopolitan and other British magazines now carry a 
blank page where ads. for British abortion clinics 
should be. Recently the Guardian newspaper was not 
distributed because of an advertisement for the Mary 
Stopes Clinic.

In 1991 the Trinity College Right to Information Group 
held a public meeting in order to launch a Dublin group.  
Following from this the Dublin Abortion Information 
Campaign (DAIC) began to meet regularly.  Initially they 
concentrated on defying the ban in in order to draw more 
people into the campaign and to provide information.  
More public meetings were held to highlight the issue 
and information leaflets were distributed in O'Connell 
Street.

Dublin County Council voted to remove two health books 
from the library which contained abortion information.  
Though DAIC attempted to replace the book the issue got 
very little coverage.  DAIC decided to slow down to one 
activity a month in order to try and maintain some 
interest over a very bleak period.

On Wednesday February 12th., some of the Irish papers 
carried a short piece about an injunction being granted 
against a 14 year old alleged rape victim to prevent her 
traveling to Britain in order to obtain an abortion.  
The case was not yet an issue.   DAIC called a picket 
for the following Monday and a rally the following 
Saturday.  Though furious about the case, given the 
present climate and the lack of advertising many felt no 
more than about 200 would turn up.   However 1,000 
people ended up marching to the attorney generals 
office.

Many of those on the march had not been involved in the 
campaigning since the 1983 referendum, and quickly 
jostling took place as to who would 'in charge' of any 
future campaigns.  Secret meetings were called by 
separate groups of feminists and liberals.  Both groups 
wanted to exclude the left as much as possible, when in 
fact, it was mainly left wing activists who had being 
attempting to keep the issue alive for the last 10 
years. 

 Following the unexpectedly large turn out of the march, 
the press and politicians started to speak out about the 
case.  One grouping held a silent vigil of the D‡il.  
DAIC realised that the turnout for the Saturday rally 
would be big enough for a march.  We hoped for 4,000.  
It was this march that put the case right on top of the 
political agenda.  At least 10,000, mainly young people, 
marched and chanted 'Right to Choose'.   It was 
noticeable that there were only five banners present, 
indicating that many people had spontaneously come out.  
People were angry.

Pressure was kept on by almost continual protests the 
following week.  The first item on the news was reports 
of scuffles at the D‡il.  The Government was coming 
under huge pressure.  On ThursdayFebruary 20th. the 14 
year old was granted her appeal.  The injunction was 
lifted and soon after she traveled to Britain in order 
to get her abortion.

These days it's not often that you have such a good 
example of how far and how quickly public opinion can 
change.  A delegate from the Cork Abortion Information 
Campaign commented at a recent conferences, that before 
the "X" case had arisen, the Cork group met to consider 
seeking another referendum on abortion information in 
University College Cork.

Two years earlier UCC, an extremely conservative 
university had voted massively against giving out 
information.  The Cork group felt they would probably 
loose but would attempt it anyhow.  Then the 14 year old 
case happened, and the UCC referendum was won with over 
70% supporting abortion information.  A week later, 
Manooth, the university of the Irish Catholic Clergy 
also overturned their policy and voted to distribute 
abortion information.

Similarly, its not often as an socialist involved in 
campaigns that you can see how your actions are changing 
society for the better.  This case is one of the few 
exceptions.  DAIC consisted of a small group of 
activists, perhaps 30 in all.  Yet when things started 
happening, when the case arose, we were there, ready and 
capable of responding.  Without DAIC, it is unlikely 
that the march would have been organised or that the 
protests would have continued for so long.  Without that 
pressure, its unlikely that the 14 year old would have 
been able to travel to Britain.

A section of the feminists called a conference in order 
to launch the Repeal the Eight Amendment Campaign. 
(R8AC).   DAIC affiliated to it.  The Conference itself 
was jumbled and frustrating.  Those calling it had a 
fixed agenda and were very hostile to any democratic 
attempt to amend it through motions.  Many activists 
found the actual conference demoralising and 
antagonistic.  It did however lead to the setting up of 
a campaign, weakly based in the cities.

Most of the co-ordinating committee of REAC wanted to 
run a media campaigning and set about getting sponsors 
and important speakers.  They however ran into troubles.  
Besides Democratic Left, no other political party would 
come near it, expressing caution and wanting to wait and 
see.  

Many of Ireland's womens organistations also refused to 
get involved.  Despite efforts the media refused to pick 
up on press statements.  At the moment the main weakness 
of the campaign is that is still attempting to become an 
'important' force at the expense of organising viable 
local action groups.

REAC needs to stop looking to the politicians and the 
media to fight the campaign for us.  Stunts and 
theatrical events do have a place in a campaign but they 
should be a backup to establishing a mass basis on the 
ground throughout the 26 counties.  REAC has failed to 
draw in new forces in Dublin to campaign against 
Maastracht.

If we are to put repealing the 8th amendment on the 
political agenda we need more then stunts.  We need to 
involve huge numbers of people through activity in the 
unions and the community.  We need to construct action 
groups based around activities in all areas.  This must 
become the first priority of the campaign.  We forced 
the government to overturn the injunction when 10,000 
marched in Dublin.  We need to get out similar numbers 
if we are to have any hope of forcing the government to 
hold a referendum scrapping the 8th amendment.

***************

** The Censorship of Abortion Information Act, 1995 **
                            from WS 45 (1995)

In the autumn of 1992, the people of Ireland voted 
to legalise abortion information.  More than two 
years later, the government has finally introduced 
a Bill to 'regulate' this information.  Ray 
Cunningham examines it.  

Even though an clear majority (60%) voted in favour 
of abortion information, the legal position on the 
distribution of this information remained confused.  
Counselling services and information groups, 
fearful of being taken to court, erred on the side 
of caution when it came to abortion, and so the 
news that a Bill was being introduced was welcomed 
in many quarters.  At last, the threat of 
injunction would be lifted.  As the Bill was 
published, however, it became clear that it was 
more restrictive than many could have imagined.  

Conditions

Some of the conditions were expected, and had been 
part of Brendan Howlin's widely leaked draft Bill 
in 1994.  Bans on the advertising of abortion 
services, and the distribution of unsolicited 
information (eg., through posters and leaflets) 
were predictable.  Though often covered by other 
laws, like the Litter Act, no political party wants 
to be seen as 'soft' on abortion, and these bans 
gave them some cover from the anti-abortion groups.  
The Noonan Bill, however, goes much further.  

Doctors will be allowed to give women the addresses 
and phone numbers of clinics in Britain, in the 
context of counselling, but they will not be able 
make an appointment or other arrangement for women 
with these clinics.  This means that important 
medical information may not be directly passed on 
from the doctor to the clinic, with possibly 
dangerous consequences.  This intrusion into the 
doctor/patient relationship is backed up with 
Garda’ powers of search and seizure and criminal 
penalties for breaking the law (previously, only a 
civil injunction could be used) in case any doctor 
is foolish enough to think that the health and 
welfare of his/her patients is more important than 
Des Hanafin's Catholic morals.  

Appeasement

The reasoning behind this legislative doublethink 
is very simple - there aren't any votes in 
abortion.  Politicians know that, apart from the 
relatively small groups at opposite ends of the 
pro-choice/anti-abortion spectrum, few people 
regard it as an important issue.  Generally, all 
that is required is that they be seen to be 
neutral, and they will be praised for their 
statesmanlike qualities.  In reality, they are far 
from neutral.  The very publication of this Bill 
was seen as a boost for the progressive agenda, but 
its draconian measures received very little 
coverage.  

Noonan is set to further appease right-wing 
Catholics.  It was pointed out that, outside of 
Dublin, there are very few pregnancy counselling 
services, but this is to be remedied.  With the 
only counselling requirement in the Bill being that 
abortion is not advocated, funding is likely to be 
approved for Cura, a Catholic anti-abortion 
counselling service, to train their counsellors and 
provide a national service.  At least they have 
plenty of practice in not advocating abortion!

Democracy?

Noonan shouldn't be singled out, though.  All 
politicians have become very skilled at not dealing 
with things.  Not dealing with divorce, not dealing 
with contraception, not dealing, in fact, with 
anything that might offend those fabled 
'grassroots'.  It has reached the point where Maire 
Geogehan-Quinn is praised for her "courage" in 
legalising homosexuality - 5 years after the 
European Court ordered it!  The wait for abortion 
in Ireland will be even longer, at least if we wait 
passively for the government to do anything.  

Since the 1992 Supreme Court ruling in the 'X' case 
that, in certain circumstances, abortion was legal 
in Ireland, the political parties have been praying 
desperately that everyone will just forget about it 
because they know that, on that issue at least, 
they can't please everybody - either abortion is 
legal, in whatever circumstances, or it isn't - 
there is no middle ground to find.  Of course, the 
fact that in 1992, people voted against rolling 
back the Supreme Court judgement, and said that the 
threat of suicide was sufficient grounds to have an 
abortion, gives us more than an inkling as to the 
wishes of the people.  Having a government that 
respected the wishes of the people, though, is too 
crazy a thought to be taken seriously.

***********************************************

           Freedom of choice

IN 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that, in some 
circumstances, women were allowed to have an 
abortion in Ireland.  Yet over 4,000 women a year 
still have to travel to England for an abortion.  
Again in 1992, we voted to allow freedom of 
information about abortion, yet the D‡il passes 
laws that are extremely restrictive and intrusive, 
in defiance of our wishes.  Where is our freedom?

Freedom

The Workers Solidarity Movement has always 
supported a woman's right to control her own body, 
and have campaigned for this right as part of the 
pro-choice movement.  We believe that control over 
one's fertility is an essential part of individual 
freedom.  

Personal freedom is expressed in other ways - in 
asserting your sexuality, heterosexual, bisexual, 
lesbian, gay, whatever it may be - in asserting 
your culture, when, like that of the Travellers, it 
is ghettoised and stigmatised.  The freedom to be 
your own person, and take pride in yourself, is 
often lacking in our society.  

Equality

But freedom must have its limits.  Freedom to have 
sex doesn't mean freedom to rape - the freedom of 
one must be balanced by the equal freedom of all.  
Nowhere is this balance more obviously lacking than 
in economics.  Capitalism is based on the freedom 
to acquire as much money as possible, but where 
there is wealth there is also poverty.  The 
fortunes of the Smurfits, the Goodmans, the 
Bransons, are balanced by the millions that go to 
bed hungry each night, the millions more that die 
every year as a direct result of poverty.  

Even in Ireland, part of the industrialised, 
developed West, with the highest rate of economic 
growth in the European Union, there is poverty.  
How many people sleep rough on the streets of our 
cities, how many barely scrape by from week to 
week, how many thousands are unemployed?  Too many.

Anarchism

Anarchism offers a way forward.  Society organised 
from below, not from the top down by obscenely rich 
industrialists, self-serving politicians, or the 
'benevolent' dictatorship of the party.  Power 
cannot be used against us if we keep it in our own 
hands, and use it to create a society based, not on 
the freedom to exploit others, nor on a forced 
equality that destroys individuality, but on real 
freedom, real socialism, real anarchism.  
