Ireland's Ballot Measure on Abortion

On Friday, May 25, Ireland will vote on a ballot measure to repeal the Eighth Amendment to it's constitution, thus to allow the government to legalize abortion well beyond narrow cases involving threats to the mother’s life. Right now that amendment, passed in 1983, keeps "abortion on demand" from being legal.

Ross Douthat

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, a conservative Catholic, writes of the Irish ballot measure here. He encapsulates his attitude this way:

... with its restrictive abortion laws, generous family policy and otherwise modern economy, Ireland seems to have achieved or maintained some notable pro-life and pro-family goals without compromising women’s health or female opportunities relative to countries with abortion on demand.

He cites much evidence that Irish women's health and their social and economic parity with men are indeed not compromised because Irish law restricts legal abortions. This fact challenges the dominant arguments made by feminists and those made by social conservatives. Feminists say that "female equality depends on abortion rights ... and the post-1960s achievements of women in the professional arena are impossible without it." Conservatives say that "serious abortion opponents must reject feminism entirely." Douthat says that what's happened in Ireland over the last several decades proves that such either-or thinking is wrong.

I hope Douthat is right, and I also hope Ireland does not repeal its Eighth Amendment. Why? Because although I think of myself as progressive on women's issues, I believe even progressives ought to accord human fetuses a right to life.