Repeal 8 abortion campaign in Ireland hopes to replicate success of Poland protests

"I just raped you, now you're forced to have my baby," read a sign at an abortion rights demonstration in Dublin last month.

The March for Choice, which drew thousands of participants, is part of a growingmovement in Ireland, where abortion laws are so restrictive that they result in"cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" in some cases,according to a recentUN human rights committee finding.

Ireland "should amend its law on voluntary termination of pregnancy, including, if necessary, its constitution," the committee said.

While the recommendation is notbinding, it was enough to compel Prime Minister Enda Kenney to convene a citizens' assembly, which willholdits first meeting on Saturday,to discuss whether the country of 4.8 millionshould hold a referendum on abortion.

The move comes just a few weeks after Poland, another staunchly Catholic EU country, tried and failed to tighten its similarly restrictive abortion law.

A crime that carries prison sentence

Abortion has been a criminal offence in Ireland (and in Northern Ireland) since the 19th century. But in 1983, Ireland enshrined aban on abortion in its constitutionwith the adoption of theEighth Amendment, which guarantees "the right to life of the unbornwith due regard to the equal right to life of the mother."

Today, some women in Irelandsay the time has come for their government to "repeal the Eighth" and provide access to abortions that are safe, legal and free. The Repeal 8 campaign is backed by more than 60 organizations, including unions, medical practitioners and human rights groups.

Anger over the country's abortion restrictionshas been simmering ever since the October 2012 death of a 31-year-old woman who was denied a potentially life-saving abortion duringa miscarriage.

'Today's electorate is demographically, culturally and spiritually in a completely different place from the electorate of themid-1980s.'- Simon Mills, medical ethicist

In the wake of that case, the government introduced theProtection of Life During Pregnancy Act (PLDPA)in 2013, which allowed abortionsin cases of "real and substantial risk" to the mother's life.

It was an attempt at compromise, but italso madeobtaining or performing an abortion punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

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"We knew in practice the PLDPA would be almost unworkable as the fear of a 14-year prison sentence has a chilling effect on doctors," saidCaoimheDoyleof the Abortion Rights Campaign.

Just what constitutes"real and substantial" risk is open to interpretation. The European Court of Human Rights hasfound, for example,that there is "uncertainty" in how that risk is assessed.

Electorate supportsreform

Simon Mills, a doctor, lawyer and medical ethicist who has addressed several parliamentary committees on abortion,says that before abortion laws can be liberalized,the Eighth Amendment willhave toberepealed or replaced.

According to Mills, modern Ireland no longer accepts the absolute authority of the CatholicChurch, and most of the major political partiessupport some form of change to the abortion law.

"Today's electorate is demographically, culturally and spiritually in a completely different place from the electorate of the mid-1980s," he said.

Irish women have long gotten around the abortion ban bymaking the 7-hour ferry crossing to Britain, where abortion is legal. The Irish Family Planning Association estimates that about 5,000 women each year travel abroad for the procedure.

But that option is not available towomen who don't have the time or money to make the journey orwho cannot travel because ofhealth or legal issues.

"[That's]health care they should be able to receive at home," Doyle said.

Some women go online and buy the abortion pill, which is also banned in Ireland. In 2014, the Health Products Regulatory Authorityseized more than 1,000 imported abortion pills(known in Canada as RU-486 and available by prescription).

Ireland and Poland 'extremeoutliers'

Ireland is unique among industrialized countries, mostof which have moved toward more liberal abortion regimes since 1950, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights,a global advocacy group headquartered in New York.

"Ireland and Poland should be considered extreme outliers in this regard," said Christian Adam, one of three German researchers who have studied the evolution of "morality policies" in Europe over the last 50 years.

Other predominantly Catholic nations such as Italy, Spain and Portugal allow abortionswithin certain gestational time limits.

The EU is reluctant to interfere in its member states' legislation on morally sensitiveissues, Adam said, but theEuropean Court of Human Rights has weighed in on specific cases.

Mills said most people in Ireland would likely accept a version of an abortion law "that has more exceptions than are currently provided for," including pregnancies resulting from rape or incestor cases where thefetushas no chance of surviving outside the womb.

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Even Poland's strict laws make exceptions in those cases, though earlier this month, the governing Law and Justice party said it was considering a legislativeproposal that would have disallowed them. The government reversed its position after a series ofralliesdrew tens of thousands protesters.

"This is testament to the power of effective protest," Doyle said.Repeal 8hopes to have similarsuccess inIreland.

Irish government employing 'delay tactics'

LastJuly, Ireland's lawmakers voted on a bill toallow abortions in cases of fatal fetal abnormalities, but it was defeated.

The two main parties in Ireland see their conservative voter base as anti-abortion and so neither of them want to beseen as the party who 'introduced' abortion.- Caoimhe Doyle, Abortion Rights Campaign

Now, the 99-member citizens' assembly will study the issue. Itsrecommendations, expected by June 2017, will go to an all-party committee for consideration.

But Doyle calls thatprocess a delay tactic.

"The two main parties in Ireland see their conservative voter base as anti-abortion and so neither of them want to beseen as the party who 'introduced' abortion," she said.

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If they did, it wouldn't be the first time thatIreland hadembraced socialchange.It was the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace in 2004. Then in 2015, it became the firstto legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote after a referendum in May of that year.

Several opinion pollshave suggested the majority of the public supports some type of abortion reform.

"We know that it is not the people in Ireland that are lagging behindbut the politicians," Doyle said.