How the moral and emotional framing of the Irish abortion debate has shaped political and public opinion

New research on Ireland's recent referendum on abortion rights examines how the framing processes used by the pro-choice movement shaped public attitudes and political treatment of abortion within the new legislative regime. Aideen O'Shaughnessy, a PhD student in the Reproductive Sociology Research Group (ReproSoc), offers a critical analysis of the Together For Yes campaign and its decision to move away from the pro-choice language of previous abortion activist groups, in favour of a more conciliatory focus on 'care, compassion and change'. Although this strategy proved successful in the referendum, where 66% voted 'Yes', it limited challenges to the proposed conservative legislation and failed to destigmatise abortion in a broader sense.

In May 2018, the Republic of Ireland voted to remove the 8th amendment of the constitution, paving the way for the decriminalisation of abortion for the first time in the history of the state. Based on the findings of in-depth qualitative interviews with Irish pro-choice activists, Aideen's research investigated the emotional and moral construction of abortion rights within the 2018 campaign. She found that the Irish abortion movement adopted a conservative strategy, mobilising the idea of abortion as inherently productive of negative emotions and as morally permissible only in a limited range of circumstances. One activist recounted her experience with the official Yes campaign messaging: "I found it quite jarring that a lot of the people who shared their stories, the overwhelming narrative was of suffering and tragedy relating to abortion... [but] for a lot of people, it wasn't tragic. It was kind of annoying that they had to. Much like going to get root canal treatment. It's kind of painful and annoying and expensive…but not tragic, not heartbreaking." This framing of abortion as an inherently negative experience, only to be justified in exceptional cases such as fetal anomaly, contributed to a 'good versus bad abortion' trope and undermined arguments about a woman's right to choose.

Whilst this 'concessionary' approach may have been designed to appeal to a wider array of voters, it ultimately failed to destigmatise abortion and to enshrine in law the right to choose. Data from the first year of abortion provision in the Republic of Ireland reveals that abortion seekers still face huge obstacles in accessing services in the State. The legislation introduced in January 2019 allows abortion on request only until 12 weeks, whilst issues remain in relation to the refusal of care. As abortion rights become increasingly contested across various geopolitical contexts, this article argues that the moral and emotional registers that we employ to speak about abortion has direct consequences for its political treatment. This in turn has consequences for public attitudes towards abortion and the provision of abortion in healthcare services. This research concludes that the moral and emotional construction of abortion is thus an important issue for the movement for gender justice, in Ireland and beyond.

Image: March for Choice in Dublin, 29 September 2012. Photo by William Murphy, via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons BY-SA 2.0 licence.

Reference

Aideen O'Shaughnessy, 'Triumph and concession?: the moral and emotional construction of Ireland's campaign for abortion rights', European Journal of Women's Studies (online first, 13 September 2021). DOI: 10.1177/13505068211040999.