Ireland S Abortion Anguish

Even ardent pro-life activists might consider a 14-year-old rape victim an exceptional case. But in Ireland, rape victims are not exempt from a nine-year-old constitutional ban on abortions. More than 4,000 women a year still risk legal action by taking weekend abortion trips to England, but this case marks the first time anyone has been caught, much less prevented in advance from terminating a pregnancy. Two out of three voters supported the constitutional amendment back in 1983, but the latest controversy threatens to reopen an intensely bitter debate. “When somebody is raped, all their control is taken away from them,” says Olive Braiden, director of the Dublin Rape Crisis Center. “To be banned from traveling for an abortion is a second victimization.”

This time, the debate threatens to spill outside Ireland’s borders. As a member of the increasingly close-knit European Community, Ireland must take heed of its neighbors’ opinions. According to the EC’s new Maastricht treaty, scheduled for adoption this June, Ireland may retain its constitutional ban. But to prevent its citizens from seeking abortions elsewhere may violate key treaty provisions on free travel between member states. One representative in the European Parliament has already denounced the Dublin decision as “an act of barbarism,” and a debate on the issue is scheduled for this week. Meanwhile, Ireland’s nearest neighbor looks on with concern. Many Protestants across the border in Northern Ireland fear precisely this kind of Roman Catholic orthodoxy, and a rape case may strengthen their resolve to stay separate.

Would Irish voters change the Constitution back again? Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds doesn’t even want to find out. In office only 48 hours when the current scandal broke, Reynolds says he’s reluctant to subject the nation to another divisive battle over the abortion issue. But he may not have a choice: dueling pro-choice and pro-life activists were already demonstrating in Dublin last week. The young girl herself, who has reportedly said she’d rather throw herself down the stairs than cope with an unwanted baby, can only wait. The judge who prevented her from traveling to England said the risk of her suicide “is much less and of a different order of magnitude than the certainty that the life of the unborn will be terminated.” The girl’s parents don’t see it that way, and have appealed the case to the Supreme Court. But the time for a safe abortion, let alone a resolution of the controversy, is clearly running out.

title: “Ireland S Abortion Anguish” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-16” author: “Felipe White”

Even ardent pro-life activists might consider a 14-year-old rape victim an exceptional case. But in Ireland, rape victims are not exempt from a nine-year-old constitutional ban on abortions. More than 4,000 women a year still risk legal action by taking weekend abortion trips to England, but this case marks the first time anyone has been caught, much less prevented in advance from terminating a pregnancy. Two out of three voters supported the constitutional amendment back in 1983, but the latest controversy threatens to reopen an intensely bitter debate. “When somebody is raped, all their control is taken away from them,” says Olive Braiden, director of the Dublin Rape Crisis Center. “To be banned from traveling for an abortion is a second victimization.”

This time, the debate threatens to spill outside Ireland’s borders. As a member of the increasingly close-knit European Community, Ireland must take heed of its neighbors’ opinions. According to the EC’s new Maastricht treaty, scheduled for adoption this June, Ireland may retain its constitutional ban. But to prevent its citizens from seeking abortions elsewhere may violate key treaty provisions on free travel between member states. One representative in the European Parliament has already denounced the Dublin decision as “an act of barbarism,” and a debate on the issue is scheduled for this week. Meanwhile, Ireland’s nearest neighbor looks on with concern. Many Protestants across the border in Northern Ireland fear precisely this kind of Roman Catholic orthodoxy, and a rape case may strengthen their resolve to stay separate.

Would Irish voters change the Constitution back again? Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds doesn’t even want to find out. In office only 48 hours when the current scandal broke, Reynolds says he’s reluctant to subject the nation to another divisive battle over the abortion issue. But he may not have a choice: dueling pro-choice and pro-life activists were already demonstrating in Dublin last week. The young girl herself, who has reportedly said she’d rather throw herself down the stairs than cope with an unwanted baby, can only wait. The judge who prevented her from traveling to England said the risk of her suicide “is much less and of a different order of magnitude than the certainty that the life of the unborn will be terminated.” The girl’s parents don’t see it that way, and have appealed the case to the Supreme Court. But the time for a safe abortion, let alone a resolution of the controversy, is clearly running out.