Abortion in Ireland
This is an excerpt from the paper...
This research paper summarizes and analyzes the religious, social, political and legal conflict in Ireland over abortion rights. In the Irish Republic, some progress has been made by women's groups, especially since 1992, to achieve greater control over their own fertility and a lessening of active opposition by the state to abortion. This struggle assumed importance principally as a result of the gradual modernization of the country and generational attitudinal changes, which have been reflected in court decisions, a realignment of the political parties and in public opinion polls and national referenda. However, the outlook for abortion reform in the immediate future remains uncertain because of the traditional and powerful opposition of the Catholic Church, the medical profession and their political allies to the legalization of abortion. Over the longer run, the forces of social and political change in Ireland may facilitate limited liberalization. A special situation exists in Northern Ireland where progress on abortion reform must await a political settlement. Women were active in the Irish independence movement. The 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic promised equal rights for all citizens. Nevertheless, since 1922 and until very recently, a combination of forces-the backward state of the economy, the dominance of Irish politics by the conservative Fianna Fail Party and the entrenched opposition of the Catholi
. . .
t states:
"The State 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."
According to Toibin, in the 1980s, "rancorous battles [were] fought over divorce and abortion, and the liberal side . . . lost" (46). With the support and in some cases the active participation of the Attorney General, the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) brought and won in 1988-1989 a series of legal actions (the Open Door Counselling and Grogan cases) to enforce the ban on the dissemination of information on abortion. The High Court in the Coogan and Grogan cases dismissed SPUC's request for an injunction on procedural grounds, but on appeal in Grogan the Supreme Court granted an injunction against the dissemination of abortion information. The High Court referred to the European Community courts the issue as to whether the requested ban on travel abroad was constitutional under Articles 59-60 of the EEC Treaty. In 1991 the European Court of Justice decided that the travel ban was unconstitutional and in 1992 the European Court of Human Rights held that the ban on the
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Brendan Smyth, Supreme Court, Irish Republic, Ireland Republic, Catholic Church's, Abortion Act, Maastricht Treaty, Countrywomen's Association, Catholic Church, Northern Ireland, supreme court, public opinion, abortion reform, dissemination information, information abortion, northern ireland, abortion law, court affirms abortion, percent vote, human rights, abortion legal, affirms abortion law, supreme court affirms, opposition catholic church, ban dissemination information,
Approximate Word count = 2109
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Abortion in Ireland
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
