Thousands are sailing

I’m tired of saying it, but the more things change, the more they remain the same. We are revisiting the 1970s. Yeah, some things are different. Computers, demographics, immigration, food, drink. But a lot of things are the same – turmoil in the Middle East, war, hijackings, layoffs, bell-bottoms. The world is in a state of chassis again and no mistake.

But the most irritating throwback to a bygone (not to say foregone) era is the next abortion referendum.

The pro-life groups are still at it, attempting to engender a Taliban-like solution to the fact of unwanted pregnancy in Ireland. They have pursued their goal of an absolute ban on abortion with notable zeal over the years. One would respect them more if they had shown similar zeal in addressing the lack of information and myriad social factors that are behind unwanted pregnancy.

The new proposed amendment and legislation are interesting in many ways. Perhaps the most fascinating is the way that it now seems accepted by Government that women will go to the UK for abortion. Access to information and freedom to travel are not in question.

This marks a major change. But it also means that we are digging an even deeper hole for ourselves. The pro-life proponents and the Government have given up on trying to stop Irish abortions. Now it’s down to stopping abortions in Ireland. It’s a fascinating sea-change, and means that the moral argument is done and dusted.

I suppose you’d have to retool the phrase I started with, to say that the more things seem the same, the more they have changed. In particular, as many individuals have noted, if an average of 5,000 Irish women have had an abortion in each of the last 25 years, that’s a lot of votes. 125,000 to be precise.

Of course, some of these will be happy with the Government proposal. But many won’t. One of the genuinely fascinating things of the last few weeks was to hear women speaking about their abortions to radio hosts like Joe Duffy. Now that wouldn’t have happened 25 years ago. What’s more, very many were saying they had no regrets. It was the right thing to do at the time.

Fascinating. It was also precisely the kind of thing that the local Taliban wouldn’t wish either to hear or to be heard. But there it was, out there.

A misapprehension lies behind the so-called debate on abortion and crisis pregnancy. It is often alleged that there is a vast and rising tide of unattached teenage women with children, all living off the state. There isn’t. The number of teenage parents has dropped, not risen. The number of people choosing to have children outside marriage has increased as well. But this is a lifestyle choice – most of these are in stable relationships. The phenomena are unconnected.

That said, teenage births appear to be concentrated in working-class families and disadvantaged areas. To some degree, this is due to the strong value placed on childbearing in these families and areas. Religious conservatism and consequent hostility to abortion is another factor.

But it seems to me that there are two other largely unnoticed factors, firstly lack of access to information on options such as abortion, and secondly, the resources (personal, social and financial) with which to follow through on a decision to terminate.

Regrettably, there is no social profile available of women who opt for termination, but it has been suggested that they are more likely to be from relatively educated middle class backgrounds. I emphasise the word relatively in the above. I am not suggesting they are rich. But they know their options and can at least muster the resources with which to follow through.

If this is the case, then abortion is a class issue. And a critical question is raised. If information about abortion as an option and freedom to travel to the UK to avail of that option are now no longer at issue, then surely all women are entitled to these, should they so choose. Right?

So, given that many working class women might choose abortion of they had the information and the money to pay for it, there is a case, on grounds of social equality, for Health Boards to make information available to, and pay for abortions for, those from disadvantaged backgrounds? Otherwise, the burden of abstinence and unwanted pregnancy will be disproportionately borne by those least equipped to bear it.

I imagine that our home-grown Taliban would give me much the same two fingered salute as did Osama bin Laden to the United States in his grainy bellicose video of recent weeks. He is becoming a kind of Che Guevara to many Arab and Pakistani youths. Not a good development.

But of course, we are all learning many new things about these societies. After all, Indonesia and Pakistan are the world’s most populous Islamic countries. But it is a great pity that they are not learning anything about non-Islamic societies. The Omar who heads up the Taliban is said to have met only two non-Muslims in his life. Is it any wonder the benighted country is in the dark?

But now the four horsemen of the Apocalypse are loosed again - war, famine, disease, death. The east is awash on a tide of refugees. White powders are packaged and deployed, some to hoax, some to kill.

Ironic, I think, that just as biological and chemical warfare become likely, our health services are revealed in all their moth-eaten and depleted state, and just as births reach a new peak, we have another debate on abortion and run out of midwives. And you thought Joe Jacob was unprepared?!?

The Hog