Tag Archive for "Ireland"

Posts Tagged Ireland

Quick Hit: What Ireland Can Teach the US About Abortion

Over the weekend, Ireland voted to end their longtime abortion ban. What can American reproductive rights advocates learn from the Irish approach, and from the death of Savita Halappanavar, the woman whose story inspired so many Irish voters to overturn the ban? In a piece for the Huffington Post I argue that the answer might lie in articulating the connection between abortion access and maternal mortality.

By Sejal Singh • 6 years ago

Polls Project Landslide Victory for Abortion Rights in Ireland

Polls just closed in Ireland on a historic vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Irish constitution, one of the most restrictive bans on abortion anywhere in Europe. The Eighth Amendment prohibits all abortion, starting at conception, effectively criminalizing abortion in all but the most extreme threats to the mother’s life. The results aren’t expected until late Saturday — but exit polls are projecting a landslide victory for the repeal.

By Lori Adelman • 10 years ago

Global Dispatch: Ireland’s March for Choice

Ed. note: This is a guest post from Grace Wilentz. Grace is a feminist activist and writer based in Dublin, Ireland. She is also a member of the South-based feminist alliance RESURJ: Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice. View previous coverage of Savita Halappanavar and abortion in Ireland here and here.

The sound of rolling suitcases rumbled from Dublin’s main thoroughfare to the Parliament as abortion rights activists took to the streets in Ireland’s third annual March for Choice on Saturday.

Estimates of the turnout are as high as 5000, more than double last year’s numbers. Having been an activist in this movement for a while- long enough to remember when we got excited about 40 people showing up to a demonstration- it ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 10 years ago

Ireland denies suicidal rape survivor an abortion and forces her to undergo a C-section

Ireland’s abortion law drew international outrage after the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar a couple years ago. The attention, combined with the long-term advocacy of local and international human rights organizations, spurred the government to ever-so-slightly loosen its restrictions to allow abortion “when there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother, including the threat of suicide over a pregnancy.” But the new law didn’t help this teenager:

The unnamed woman, now 18, was reportedly raped as a minor and sought an abortion just eight weeks into her pregnancy. Even after experts found her to be suicidal – a prerequisite for abortion under a new Irish law – she ...

By Courtney Baxter • 10 years ago

Weekly Feminist Reader

We need to give Title IX teeth.

And how will the Department of Ed hold colleges accountable?

Coming face to face with racism in our friends, families, and ourselves.

Whitney Lee, a transg woman incarcerated in Ohio, is fighting for medical accsss.

We need to give Title IX teeth.

And how will the Department of Ed hold colleges accountable?

Coming face to face with racism in our friends, families, and ourselves.

Whitney Lee, a transg woman ...

By Katie Halper • 11 years ago

Ireland’s first legal abortion means Savita Halappanavar did not die in vain

Today, Friday, it was confirmed that an hospital in Ireland performed the first legal abortion in the country. The abortion took place in a Dublin hospital on a woman whose 18-week pregnancy was non-viable and whose life was at risk. The woman, who is doing fine, had shown signs of sepsis. But she may owe her life to another woman who was killed by sepsis when an Irish hospital refused to terminate her non-viable pregnancy: Savita Halappanavar. Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist, repeatedly asked doctors in a Galway hospital to terminate her 17-week fetus. Though she was literally in the process of miscarrying the fetus, the hospital refused to take any actions as long as there was a ...

By Sesali B. • 11 years ago

Ireland passes its first abortion law

Talk about baby steps (no pun intended). Not even a year ago, Savita Halappanavar died after being refused a life-saving abortion in Ireland. Her story brought international attention to exactly how strict the staunchly Catholic nation’s abortion ban was.

In 1992 the Supreme Court did rule that abortions were allowed in cases where the pregnancy was life-threatening. Unfortunately this decision was too vague and not enough to save Halappanavar’s life. This is why the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill was so important. The bill passed in the first vote earlier this month and President Michael D. Higgins signed it into law today.

“The law permits abortions to alleviate life-threatening conditions, including a woman’s own threat to commit ...

By Jos Truitt • 11 years ago

Irish lawmakers vote to allow abortion in life threatening cases

Irish lawmakers voted today in favor of a bill that would allow abortion in cases where the pregnancy is life threatening. Abortion is otherwise illegal in Ireland. The Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that abortions are allowed to save the parent’s life. But the new bill is necessary because the court’s ruling hasn’t been effective in allowing abortion even in life threatening cases. We saw the tragedy Ireland’s abortion ban can lead to last year, when Savita Halappanavar died because she was denied a life saving abortion following an incomplete miscarriage.

The bill passed its first vote today, 138-24, and faces final approval next week. Even if it becomes law, this bill is only a first step. Restricting abortion ...