“Manufacturing Stigma” (Vol. XXXV, No. 3) reminded me of when the Irish Republic was in its infancy in the 1950s and the new leaders relied massively on the functioning infrastructure, already established and run by the Catholic church, to provide for the people in Ireland. The Catholic hierarchy and the Irish State became partners in governing the Irish people. Today, most schools, hospitals and charitable organizations remain affiliated with the institutional Catholic church and are managed with a “Catholic ethos” while also being state-funded institutions. Our constitution and laws related to reproductive health accorded closely with the conservative Catholic hierarchy’s agenda; its retrograde views on sexuality have been translated directly into constitutional law.

Any progress made in Ireland with regard to reproductive health has been hard won. The struggle to secure access to contraception was met with strong opposition from the bishops as well as faith-based organizations.

Despite there being legal, if at times prohibitively expensive, access to contraception in Ireland, abortion is still restricted to circumstances in which there is a threat to the life of a pregnant woman. However, we have seen in the last few years that even risk to life will not ensure a woman the right to choose. Thousands journey to the UK each year to access a safe and legal abortion. The provision of contraception does not and cannot eradicate the need for safe and legal abortion, and despite the frequent response from the Irish State that they are “reducing” the need for abortion, it is naïve or disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

In turn, to deny this reality and restrict access to a vital healthcare procedure within aid programs that claim to support and empower women in developing communities is disingenuous and dangerous. It is imperative that those responsible for the provision of family planning or reproductive healthcare accept that abortion will always be necessary in any society where women can become pregnant.

CATHIE DOHERTY
Abortion Rights Campaign
Dublin, Ireland