Sex Column: Ask every candidate will they repeal the 8th

Oh yippee! Election time is upon us.
Once again, the people of Ireland will be subjected to door-stepping politicians, empty promises and inevitable disappointment. Still, we keep on voting, if only to keep out the worst of a bad lot. Isn’t that how most of us really feel?
The biggest issue for most of us will be the economy. Given the state of the country over the last few years it has to be. Am I grateful that the government cut the much-hated Universal Social Charge in the last budget? You bet I am. But you can be sure that the government would like us all to focus on this, and their claim that 135,000 new jobs were added under the current coalition, because the economy, after all, is far less divisive than social issues — and none is trickier than the 8th Amendment.
Contrary to fear-mongering from anti-choice groups, repealing the 8th Amendment won’t lead to so-called “abortion on demand.” The 8th Amendment gives the ‘unborn’ a right to life equal to that of a mother. Here’s what 8th Amendment says: “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.”
Repealing it will remove this ‘equal’ status, but it won’t make abortion legal. However, Ireland’s abortion laws cannot be liberalised as long as the 8th Amendment is in the constitution — which is why pro-choice activists are eager for it to go, and anti-choice groups don’t want any change. After all, they don’t want to see abortion being available, even for victims of rape or incest, or women with unviable pregnancies. Asking Irish politicians where they stand on the 8th Amendment and women’s reproductive freedom brings out the most remarkable fence-sitting, bet-hedging and double-speak you are ever likely to witness. Which is why it is a question you should be asking of every candidate that arrives at your door. Obfuscation is simply not good enough…
A poll of Fine Gael TDs in January 2016 found that just 15 were in favour of liberalising abortion laws to give women the choice of terminating a pregnancy, in cases of fatal foetal abnormality. However, only seven were opposed – and the rest apparently hadn’t reached an opinion. Uh huh…
Do they honestly expect us to believe that? Abortion may be an emotive topic, but anyone who doesn’t have a position on whether or not a woman should be forced to carry a doomed pregnancy to term is not fit to be in the Dáil, never mind in government. Claiming not to have an opinion is the cute hoor answer — these TDs are waiting to see how the public debate shapes up before answering. Their only genuine position is “whatever gets me re-elected.”
Ministers Simon Coveney and Frances Fitzgerald, however, went one better, telling the Irish Independent that we, the people of Ireland, don’t need to know their views, especially not during an election campaign. Whether you’re pro-choice or anti, the refusal to answer is just absurd.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has promised a referendum on the 8th Amendment if FG are returned to government, and has repeatedly stated that Fine Gael TDs will be given a free vote on the issue. But in early February he also claimed he wished to “de-politicise” the abortion debate — which would be fine if successive governments had not made it a political issue by restricting our reproductive rights. What’s more, the Taoiseach and Health Minister Leo Varadkar, have indicated that if there is a referendum it won’t be a question of repealing the 8th, but replacing it with something else.
Bizarrely, Leo Vadakar believes that 8th Amendment is restrictive, but doesn’t want it repealed and instead suggested that it may be necessary to modify it. When asked about a referendum on the 8th Amendment during an interview with RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland Enda Kenny gave a non-answer: “A referendum on what? Do you know what we want to take out of the constitution, or put into it, or to amend it?”
Chances are, that even if Kenny makes good on his promise to hold a referendum, it won’t be the one pro-choice activists want — repealing the 8th – but some kind of wishy washy rewording of it. As cowardly a manoeuvre as that is, it’s more than what Micheál Martin is prepared to offer.
Fianna Fáil is keeping as far away from the 8th Amendment as possible. Martin stated last September that his party will not hold a referendum. “We won’t, as a party,” he said in February, “we will not be collectively pushing for the repeal of the 8th, it’s much more complex than a simple election slogan.” Essentially Martin would like us to think he has a considered opinion on the abortion debate, but he is not going to tell us what it is. With FF it’ll be business as usual — ignoring the issue and hoping it’ll be someone else’s problem at some point in future. Anne Ferris was the only Labour TD to back Clare Daly’s February 2015 bill to allow for abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality. Toubling as that might have been, Labour is now fully committed to repealing the 8th and has made that promise part of its election manifesto.
“Labour is the party of social change,” Senator Ivana Bacik said in an article in the Irish Times in November, when Labour published its framework legislation on the issue. “We have long taken liberal stances on social issues such as contraception and divorce. In line with this tradition it was Labour that pushed for a referendum on divorce in 1995; gender quota legislation was Labour policy; and it was Labour that ensured marriage equality was included in the programme for this Government.
“Our strategy,” she added, “is to declare our position by publishing this Bill, so voters know where we stand on the issue of abortion. We challenge other political parties to do the same now.”
As for the smaller parties and the Independents — well, it’s a mixed bag. Sinn Féin dropped their opposition to abortion at their 2015 Ard Fheis. Renua Ireland leader Lucinda Creighton is vehemently opposed to abortion – but, apparently, not necessarily to a referendum on the 8th and is allowing members of the party to vote with their conscience.
The newly minted Social Democrats want a referendum within 18 months of the new government, and Ruth Coppinger and Paul Murphy of the Anti-Austerity Alliance are committed to reproductive freedom. Róisín Shortall is in favour of a referendum to repeal the 8th in order to allow women a choice in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities, rape and incest. Independent candidates Fidelma Healy Eames, Michael Healy-Rae, Peter Mathews, Mattie McGrath, Rónán Mullen and Jim Walsh are all against putting the 8th to a referendum, while Michael Lowry reckons the 8th Amendment is “not on the political agenda.”
Lowry is wrong about that — as on so many other things. A September 2015 poll by Claire Byrne Live and Amárach Research found that 28% of the Irish electorate will decide how to vote based on what a political party or candidate has to say about abortion. The percentage is higher amongst women and young people — a third and 44 percent respectively.
Many of these voters will be pro-choice and some will be anti-choice — two groups that rarely, if ever, agree on anything. This election may change that because whatever your position on abortion, you deserve a straight answer from anyone hustling for your vote. Don’t be swayed by claims that it is impossible to give a simple yes or no answer to whether or not a candidate supports repealing the 8th. If they want our votes, candidates shouldn’t try fob us off with gobbledegook. Don’t let them.