The articles below from the WSM web page give a history of the recent struggle for abortion rights in Ireland - starting in 1988
Defying the Hamilton Injunction
The "Defend the Clinics Campaign" is running out of steam. The recent Information Picket on Dublin's O'Connell Bridge attracted only 20 people. Trying to turn this tide is a mammoth task.
Review:Abortion information is illegal
A well written and informative document, we are brought through the recent history of Women's Rights in Ireland, in particular a woman's right to control her own fertility.
Abortion: It's every Womans Right to Choose
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 4,000 Irish women have abortions in England every year at present.
A review of the fight for abortion rights from 1983 to 1992 focusing on events around the X case in 1992
We are being faced with three separate, and each in their own way highly insulting, referenda. These are on the right to Travel, the right to Information and on the right to Abortion in certain very restricted circumstances. Anarchists will be voting Yes to Travel, Yes to Information and No to the so called '"pro-life"' wording.
Anti-abortionists told to SPUC OFF!
Where previously the church was an almost unquestioned authority on moral issues in Ireland, now the positions many Irish people hold on social issues are in direct conflict with the church. The most recent example of this were the abortion referenda held on November 26th, 1992.
It is hard to analyse the most important result from the Referendum, namely the 'substantive issue' or the Abortion Referendum. The Referenda on Travel and Information prove that the 'No, No, No' lobby failed by a decisive amount.
The Irish Left is very small. However history has shown that it is possible to have influence far out of proportion to your numbers. So what strategy did these highly organised groups committed to fighting for womens' liberation adopt.
THE FIGHT between SPUC and the student unions over the provision of abortion information has entered a new phase. SPUC's solicitors, are now seeking costs from the student unions for the earlier stages of the case.
Lies, damned lies and statistics
Never forget that we won the last referenda on abortion rights! Anti-abortion campaigners such as Des Hanafin and SPUC have been trying to rewrite history by claiming that they won, and that the country had voted against abortion.
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.
The Censorship of Abortion Information Act, 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.
Abortion rights [1988]
We had the referendum, so where is the law?
Abortion in Ireland - Historical Perspective and current campaigning
Abortion was totally illegal in Ireland under all circumstances until the Supreme Court judgement in the "X" case earlier this year, which seems to permit abortion in the extremely limited case of threatened suicide by the mother. The 1861 Offences against the Persons Act states that any person "performing, attempting and or assisting in an abortion is liable to penal servitude for life".
International backlash against abortion
In America the supreme court recently voted by 5 judges to 4 to enforce a restrictive Pennsylavania law which requires a mandatory waiting period foe women seeking abortions and forces teenagers to inform their parents of their intentions to have an abortion. The ruling was greeted with the headline in Village Voice "Court to women : Drop Dead".
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