The Road Less Travelled: Examining Feminist Legal Strategies for Reforming Abortion Law in Ireland
Keywords:
Abortion Rights Movement, Repeal the Eighth Campaign, Women's Right's in Ireland, Reproductive Rights, Women's Healthcare, Decriminalisation of Abortion, Irish Law, Feminism, Feminist Legal Theory, The Abortion Act, Irish Constitution, Human Rights, Gender, Gender StudiesAbstract
It has been written that “the struggle for social change has time and again been diverted away from the reform of statutory law towards the use of the Constitution and the courts.” The Irish experience of abortion law since the 1980s has been characterised by the enactment of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, several high-profile cases regarding the scope of protec- tions afforded under the Constitution under the Eighth Amendment, and the late advent of statutory reform. This essay seeks to examine that stance, its effect on abortion law and women in Ireland today, and the merits of different means possible for re- forming Irish abortion law. It will be argued that reliance on the Consti- tution and courts to formulate abortion law has resulted in a significant problematic accumulation of case law on foetal rights, an inevitable need for constitutional reform, and a diminished legal status for women in Ireland.
References
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