Ireland's near total ban on abortion is the jewel in the
crown of the pro-life movement -- vigorously applauded by
America anti-abortion activists. And in supporting the Unborn
Victim of Violence Act, President Bush seeks to move the United
States briskly toward the Irish position.
The Act provides a fetus with rights of its own, a first
step toward the sort of anti-abortion strategy Bush seems
to favor, if his early actions and staff appointments are
any indication.
Enhanced legal status for the fetus have existed in Ireland
for almost twenty years, since voters amended the Irish Constitution
to give the unborn an explicit right to life while granting
"due regard" to the pregnant woman's life.
But harsh restrictions on abortion have little public support
today.
Results of a new poll by Lansdowne Market Research for Abortion
Reform show that almost two-thirds of those surveyed believe
that abortion should be permitted in some circumstances in
Ireland.
As with all politics in Ireland, history is key to understanding
today's debate.
The abortion controversy exploded in Ireland in 1992 just
months before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to restrict abortion
access.
For almost a generation, England had acted as a safety valve
by providing safe, legal abortion for thousands of Irish women
each year.
Then a landmark ruling in the "X case" threw this "Irish
solution to an Irish problem" into turmoil. "X" was a girl
of 14, pregnant as a result of rape, allegedly by the father
of a schoolmate. Accompanied by her parents, X traveled to
England for an abortion.
Her father, concerned about prosecuting the rapist, had asked
Irish police whether a fetal tissue sample should be preserved
as DNA evidence. In response, the Attorney General obtained
a court order to protect the fetus by prohibiting the girl
from seeking an abortion or traveling outside the country
for nine months.
The family returned to Ireland with X still pregnant and
now suicidal. Ultimately the Irish Supreme Court permitted
an abortion based on the girl's extreme risk of suicide.
Large demonstrations supporting abortion rights at that time
made it clear that opposition to abortion was by no means
a solid wall, despite Catholic hegemony.
That same year, breaking ranks with their church, Irish voters
passed a referendum giving women the right to travel to obtain
abortion services legally, and the right to receive information
on abortion -- ending years of censorship of books and magazines
that mentioned abortion -- while rejecting a proposal to exclude
suicide risk as a grounds for abortion.
For 20 years now, the debate about abortion has inflamed
the Irish, yet the political landscape remains fixed. Despite
socio-cultural and economic advances that have Ireland in
step with its more progressive European Union partners, its
uncompromising abortion laws remain.
The government, after extensive study and endless debate,
has proposed no new legislation. Instead, it panders to a
vocal minority by offering a referendum striking risk of suicide
as justification for abortion -- a measure almost identical
to the one voters rejected in 1992.
And at least 6,000 thousand Irish women continue to travel
to England for abortions each year. The Bush administration
seems equally willing to ignore the majority of Americans
and has charged forward with an anti-abortion agenda from
day one.
Ignoring the "women's vote" his mother wooed under the slogan
"W is for Woman," Bush closed the White House Office for Women's
Initiatives and Outreach, re-enacted the gag rule de-funding
foreign organizations who even speak of abortion, supported
the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and threatens the availability
of RU-486.
All this within his first trimester!
So abortion rights get only political lip service from anti-abortion
governments in both Ireland and the U.S. Ireland's anti-abortion
movement, like its American cousin, has become an entrenched
political force that emboldens conservative politicians to
routinely dismiss women's rights.
Only when pro-choice voters begin to express their views
at the voting booth -- not only to pollsters but also to peers
and politicians -- will their myopic politicians get the message
of an enlightened agenda.
