Abortion and Nation: The Politics of Reproduction in Contemporary Ireland PDF
Preview Abortion and Nation: The Politics of Reproduction in Contemporary Ireland
ABORTION AND NATION C\ Taylor & Francis ~- Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfra n ci s.com Abortion and Nation The Politics of Reproduction in Contemporary Ireland LISA SMYTH Queens University Belfast I~ ~~o~1~~n~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2005 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © Lisa Smyth 2005 Lisa Smyth has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Smyth, Lisa Abortion and nation : the politics of reproduction in contemporary Ireland 1. Abortion - Political aspects - Ireland 2. Abortion - Government policy - Ireland 3. Abortion - Law and legislation - Ireland 4. Rape victims - Legal status, laws, etc. - Ireland 5. Women’s rights - Ireland 6. National characteristics, Irish I. Title 363.4'6'09417 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Smyth, Lisa, 1969- Abortion and nation : the politics of reproduction in contemporary Ireland / by Lisa Smyth, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Abortion—Political aspects—Ireland. 2. Abortion—Law and legislation-Ireland. 3. Rape victims—Legal status, laws, etc.—Ireland. 4. Women’s rights—Ireland. 5. National characteristics, Irish. I. Title. HQ767.5.I73S69 2005 363.46'09417—dc22 2004027235 ISBN 13: 978-0-7546-3592-5 (hbk) Contents Acknowledgements vi List ofA bbreviations vii Glossary ofI rish Terms viii 1 Abortion Politics, the Nation-State and Globalization 1 2 Abortion and Reproductive Freedom 22 3 The Politics of Authenticity: Nationality, Gender and Irishness 33 4 National Entrepreneurs: A Moral Panic Emerges 49 5 Abortion, Official Nationhood and Gendered Citizenship 73 6 The X Case and the Familial 'Pro-Life' Nation 91 7 The X Case and the Republican Democratic Nation-State 104 8 Towards a Liberal Democratic Political Culture? 120 Conclusion: Women in the Nation-State 140 Bibliography 147 Index 184 Acknowledgements I owe a debt of gratitude to the many people who have contributed in one way or another to this project. In particular, I would like to thank Deborah L. Steinberg, whose unwavering enthusiasm, patience and advice have been invaluable over the years. Thanks also to Richard Johnson, Caroline Wright and Louise Ryan for their critical connnents on earlier drafts of the manuscript, and to Nickie Charles and Jo Campling for their help with publication. I would also like to thank colleagues in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at Queen's University, Belfast, and in Sociology and Anthropology at Swansea, for their support. I am also grateful to the postgraduate students in Sociology and Women's Studies at Warwick between 1995 and 2000, where most of the work on this book was carried out, especially to Yvonne McKenna, Marsha Henry and Joan Haran. I would especially like to thank all the campaigners both for and against abortion access in Ireland who agreed to talk to me as part of the research for this book. I am grateful to the University of Warwick Graduate Award Scheme for financial support in conducting the research. I would also like to thank Trinity College Dublin Library; the British Library; and the British Library of Political and Economic Science for providing access to research material. Sections of Chapter Two are reprinted from Women's Studies International Forum, Vol 25, Issue 3, 'Feminism and Abortion Politics' pp.335-345 (2002) with permission from Elsevier. Finally, a special thanks to Cillian McBride for all the years of talking, listening and inspiration, and to Ruadhan, whose arrival has taught me at first hand the value of reproductive freedom. List of Abbreviations AAC Anti-Amendment Campaign ANV Alliance for a No Vote BPAS British Pregnancy Advisory Service CPA Crisis Pregnancy Agency GAA Gaelic Athletic Association IFPA Irish Family Planning Association IRA Irish Republican Army NF In Vitro Fertilization PLAC Pro-Life Amendment Campaign REAC Repeal the Eighth Amendment Campaign SPUC Society for the Protection of Unborn Children TD Teachtai Dala (Elected member of the First House of the Legislature) UN United Nations WIN Women's Information Network Glossary of Irish Terms Bunreacht na hEireann Constitution of Ireland Oireachtas Legislature (First House; Second House; President) Dail Legislative Assembly (First House) Seanad Senate (Second House) Taoiseach Prime Minister Gardai Police Gaeltacht Officially designated Irish-speaking region Chapter 1 Abortion Politics, the Nation-State and Globalization Introduction On 12th February 1992, a headline appeared on the front page of the liberal left- wing national newspaper The Irish Times, announcing 'State attempts to stop girl's abortion'. A fourteen-year-old pregnant rape victim, referred to as 'X', had been issued with a temporary High Court injunction, preventing her from obtaining an abortion, and from leaving the State for a period of nine months. The right to life of X's foetus, constitutionally recognized since 1983, was judged to outweigh her own rights to bodily integrity and freedom of movement. The news became the focus of extraordinary public controversy, as mass demonstrations demanding the removal of the injunction became daily events. The State's action, effectively compelling a fourteen-year-old to carry a pregnancy conceived through rape, was greeted with popular outrage. Characterizations of X and her family as respectable, middle-class, and law-abiding were particularly important in generating this public reaction. The significance of what were perceived as the exceptional circumstances of this case has had lasting effect on the abortion debate in Ireland, as journalist Aine McCarthy (2000) connnents, and indicated a rupture of previous political affiliations. As the editorial of the same newspaper declared in response to the case, Ireland appeared to have 'descended into cruelty' in a way similar to explicitly undemocratic and tyrannical states.1 Abortion Politics, Globalization and Nationhood This book is interested in the effects this case had on the framing of Irish abortion politics, through which a coercive anti-abortion regime had operated legitimately, and with increasing momentum, during the previous decade. More particularly, what follows is concerned with the ways in which anti-abortion politics had operated historically through a politics of national identity, which relied on, and reproduced, constructions of Irishness in traditionally familial, patriarchal, and conservatively Catholic terms. The X case significantly unsettled these gendered 1/rish Times 18th February 1992, 'Descent Into Cruelty'.
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