Catholic Ireland is Dead and Gone

Irish voters are almost certain to repeal their constitution's prohibitions on abortion. What then?

On May 25, voters in the Republic of Ireland will go to the polls in a referendum on whether access to abortion should be widened. The Eighth Amendment, which was added to the constitution in 1983, “acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right,” and so permits abortion only to preserve the life of the mother. It is this amendment that Irish voters are being asked by their government to repeal, with the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, calling upon his supporters to “trust women.” This implies that women share a single position on the matter and also implicitly admits that Varadkar did not trust women during the many years he did not support repeal. Whatever the ironies of his campaign, the polling indicates that the Eighth Amendment will be repealed and that legislation will follow to overturn one of the last distinctive features of Catholic Ireland. Read More