Abortion Access & Reproductive Rights

Abstract

The eighth amendment, an archaic constitutional clause that equated the life of a foetus to the life of a woman, is gone. In May 2018, Ireland voted by a landslide majority to change our constitution, thereby lifting a ban on ending a pregnancy outside of the most extreme of circumstances. Abortion is now legal on demand up to twelve weeks, and available in ‘exceptional circumstances’ after that. The eighth amendment wasn’t repealed because of the actions of enlightened politicians ‘going on a journey’, as some mainstream parties now maintain. The true architect of change was a thirty-five-year-long grassroots effort that was mostly organised by women