In May 2018 the Republic of Ireland voted in a national referendum overwhelmingly to overturn the abortion ban. Abortion, under certain circumstances became legal on 1st January 2019. The abortion ban, known as the Eight Amendment was put in to the country’s constitution in 1987. The predominant religion Ireland was in those days a somewhat conservative brand of Roman Catholic Christianity.
Since the year 2000 the country has been rocked by many scandals of child abuse by both priests and nuns. In many cases horrific conditions in orphanages, boarding schools and homes for unmarried mothers have been reported and dealt with by the authorities. Along with a general drift towards secularisation the country no longer finds itself maintaining conservative Christian Roman Catholic values about abortion.
Having said that in some areas of the country tradition attitudes die hard, but in May 2018 the country voted to repeal the ban by 66.4% against 33.6%.
What does his mean
In the Republic of Ireland up to 9 weeks in to a pregnancy a woman may have an abortion from her doctor without having to give a reason.
Between 9 and 12 weeks the operation must be performed in hospital – again the woman does not have to give a reason for the abortion.
After 12 weeks an abortion may only be performed if the pregnancy is endangering the life of the mother, or if it is realised that the foetus will die, or that the child will die within 28 days after birth.
Northern Ireland
The repeal of the ban has no effect in Northern Ireland. This province has the strictest abortion laws in the United Kingdom. Cases of rape and foetal abnormality are not considered ground for a legal termination.
New Test Case January 2019
Ruth Coppinger an Irish MP brought before parliament (Dail) the case of a mother who found at the 13 week scan of her pregnancy that some of the organs of the foetus she was carrying were developing outside the child’s body. A second scan a week later confirmed the irregularity.
Despite support from two of her own doctors for a termination hospital officials told her the pregnancy could not be terminated because it did not “fall neatly into a fatal foetal abnormality” diagnosis.
The woman has had to revert to the practice of travelling to England in order to have a termination. Discussions in popular radio programmes about the problem have revealed that doctors in the Republic of Ireland are still nervous about prescribing an abortion after 12 weeks because of the uncertainty about what is and what is not a “life threatening condition” for either the mother or the baby.
Hokmah 