Repeal The Eighth: Ireland's Moment Of Choice

Jumping Off the Ivory Tower with Prof JulieMac

On May 25, 2018, Ireland will hold a national referendum to decide whether or not to repeal the eighth amendment to the constitution, passed in 1983, which gives equal right to life to a pregnant woman and the child she’s carrying, from the moment of conception – solidifying the illegality of abortions. While living in Ireland, Julie worked on the 1983 pro-choice campaign, trying to explain how making abortion a constitutional issue would extend the power of the state over women’s lives. Since passing the eighth amendment, the Irish government has used it to prevent women from leaving the country to obtain abortions, exposing the real danger of the amendment to the lives and health of Irish women. The current campaign to repeal the eighth has focused on the constraints this has placed now for 35 years on all pregnant women. In our episode today, Julie talks to two students at Trinity College Dublin who are working on the campaign, about the current movement, and why they’re involved. Shubhangi Karmakar is a medical student and creator behind Repealist, and Keire Murphy is secretary of the University’s Repeal the Eighth group. In other news: Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General has a new plan to create Community Justice Centres in Toronto, London, and Kenora; and the province of Saskatchewan has announced the Listen Project, an initiative to help survivors of sexual violence navigate the justice system and obtain free legal advice. This is the final episode of the season for Jumping Off the Ivory Tower, but stay tuned for new episodes coming later this summer. And in the meantime, we wish to whole-heartedly thank Brauntë Petric, our wonderful Podcast Intern, for all her many hours of painstaking editing; and Ali Tejani, our indefatigable NSRLP research assistant, who has done such a wonderful job writing the Other News segments this season. Thanks so much to you both, and to the whole NSRLP team! More on this episode on our website: https://representingyourselfcanada.com/repeal-the-eighth-irelands-moment-of-choice/