Our land and minds have changed since ’83, but the abortion debate isn’t decided
SPEAKING in the Dáil, Health Minister Simon Harris described the commencement of the debate on the Eighth Amendment to our Constitution as one which would in time be viewed as historic.
His speech also marked the beginning of rival campaigns to win the hearts and minds in the coming referendum. Much of this will be conducted through the Irish mainstream and social media and will no doubt be fought with conviction by both sides.
Back in 1983, when the Eighth Amendment was introduced, RTÉ provided the principal forum for the national debate. I was a young producer working on the station’s flagship current affairs programme ‘Today Tonight’.
One morning, I was called into the office of series editor Joe Mulholland and asked to produce RTÉ’s TV coverage of the coming referendum.
I was delighted to be given such an important assignment, but also a little apprehensive.
I realised any programme about this amendment would be subject to close scrutiny for any signs of prejudice or bias.
Although I knew some Irish women who had travelled to England for abortions, I must confess I had seldom given the issue much thought until then.
However, a few days after my meeting with Joe, I was sitting in a crowded parish hall in the Midlands where the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (Spuc) was presenting a slide show.
It consisted largely of graphic photos of foetuses terminated in the late stages of pregnancy. They made abortion clinics look like slaughterhouses.
I had never seen such images before and I was shocked and disturbed by them. I was also concerned by the number of young children allowed to attend.
After the slide show was over, there were speeches and questions from the floor. Many were vitriolic in the abuse they heaped on Mary Robinson, who was then a senator for Trinity College.
She had been associated with attempts to legalise contraception in Ireland, and was also involved in the Anti-Amendment Campaign (AAC). In the eyes of some of those present, that was enough to make her evil incarnate.
I remember one passionate speaker from the floor who described Irish women seeking abortions as the sort that lived in “Dublin 4”, and had “gold taps in their bathrooms”.
These were women, she believed, who only wanted abortions so their “winter holidays on the Canary Islands” would not be spoiled.
At the time I thought this was a bizarre but also revealing comment, indicating a degree of social resentment that had little to do with unborn children.
The Pro-Life Amendment Campaign (PLAC) had been launched in 1981, and had taken advantage of the political instability of that time to secure agreement from both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to hold a referendum.
Apart from Spuc, there were more than a dozen other organisations in PLAC. Most were small and fairly obscure lay groups – such as the Guild of Catholic Pharmacists, or the St Thomas More Society. What they may have lacked in numbers, however, they made up for in zeal.
It soon became clear the Church hierarchy did not intend to play a prominent role in the campaign.
Perhaps the bishops did not feel their influence was needed since activists in lobby groups, such as the self-styled Council for Social Concern, were more than happy to make the running.
Perhaps the hierarchy also felt ill at ease in the company of some more outspoken PLAC supporters.
I spent much of 1983, along with reporter Margaret O’Callaghan – Miriam’s sister – criss-crossing the country, following both campaigns.
Before long, it had developed into a rancorous and bitter dispute. Both sides seemed convinced of their own moral rectitude and they were both prone to intolerance of any other viewpoint.
BOTH sides had weaknesses in the campaigns they ran. There seemed, for example, to be a shortage of articulate women in the pro-life ranks who could act as spokespersons.
PLAC tended to overuse some of its female members. One was a former nun who was palpably sincere but also seemed acutely uncomfortable when discussing anything to do with sexual matters.
On the other hand, the AAC tended to nominate a succession of
bright young lawyers to appear on TV and radio.
Many of the reservations they raised about the implications of the amendment have since been vindicated. But they often expressed those concerns in legalistic terms that did not seem to connect with the wider Irish public.
Too many appeared to come from the same affluent suburbs of south County Dublin and often appeared to be preaching to the converted.
The pro-lifers seemed much better organised; they were well funded; they were able to draw support from a broader demographic base; and they were more prepared to appeal to the emotions of the electorate.
Even their posters were better designed and made more impact.
The pro-lifers were also highly committed to their cause. Indeed, some of them saw the Eighth Amendment campaign as part of a larger project that would also prevent the introduction of divorce and the legalisation of homosexuality.
In 1983, many Irish people held conservative views on such matters, and I was not surprised when PLAC won a comprehensive victory.
The pro-lifers may have won that battle, but in some respects they have lost the subsequent war.
Seven years after the amendment was passed, Mary Robinson was elected as our President.
Divorce is now legal in Ireland – and so is same-sex marriage.
There were other unexpected consequences of the campaign. For months, the country was preoccupied by an intense debate that focused on the most intimate details of sexual reproduction.
FOR some, this had previously been forbidden territory, and I believe in the long run the referendum campaign helped to make us a good deal more open to public discussion of such matters.
Since then, some of the inherent flaws in the Eighth have been cruelly exposed, and the case for repeal now carries an emotional heft the AAC campaign lacked four decades ago.
Beyond that, the mood and character of the country has changed greatly and so, of course, has the role of the mainstream and social media in Ireland.
Perhaps most crucially, this time around there is no significant level of support from any of our major political parties for retention of the Eighth Amendment. In that context, the endorsement of repeal given by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin is of particular significance.
According to the latest opinion polls, it seems likely the 1983 result will be reversed later this year.
However, I think it would be a mistake for anyone to regard the result of the next referendum as a forgone conclusion.
If opinion polls were infallible, Brexit would have been defeated and Hillary Clinton elected 45th US President.
Once again, much will hinge on the final wording of the referendum, and how effectively the opposing campaigns can compete.