In the aftermath of the European court of Human Rights finding that the Irish state had violated the rights of a woman who was unable to get an abortion in Ireland a poll in the Sunday Times has confirmed that almost 9 out of every 10 people want abortion available in such cases. This result is a massive defeat for the well funded anti-choice movement that spent hundreds of thousands in an anti-choice advertising campaign in advance of the ruling.
In the aftermath of the European court of Human Rights finding that the Irish state had violated the rights of a woman who was unable to get an abortion in Ireland a poll in the Sunday Times has confirmed that almost 9 out of every 10 people want abortion available in such cases. This result is a massive defeat for the well funded anti-choice movement that spent hundreds of thousands in an anti-choice advertising campaign in advance of the ruling.
The Sunday Times published the results of their RedC poll on January 16th under the heading of ‘Majority for Abortion.’ This showed that "86% of adults are in favour of granting the right of seeking an abortion to a mother where her life is at risk," in effect the grounds of the X – Case judgement which successive governments have refused to implement for almost two decades despite the failure of two anti-choice referendums to overturn this judgement.
The WSM argues that a woman who finds herself pregnant and does not wish to remain so should have a right to free, safe abortion on demand. The RedC poll demonstrated that this is now the position of 38% of the population, over twice what similar polls showed in the 1990’s. This despite the fact that almost no other political organisation on the island is willing to openly argue such a position.
Anti-choice groups are fighting an increasingly desperate rear guard action to try and ensure that women are denied the right to control their own bodies. Much of the funding for their extravagant campaigning appears to be coming from similar groups of bigots in North America. The sort of people who oppose sex education and contraception as well as access to abortion. It would be interesting to hear how they try and explain to those groups the ineffective nature of their campaign despite the vast sums being pumped in.
WORDS: Andrew (first written for WSM.IE)