Irish students leading fight for abortion rights

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4 SOCIALIST ACTION DECEMBER 1989 In Ireland, where neither divorce nor abortion is available to women, even the right to vital information giving women some elemental control over their lives is now seriously threatened.

Abortion has been illegal in Ireland since 1861 under a law imposed during British rule and never removed. Not content with that prohibitive law, the anti-abortion movement launched a campaign which, in 1983, led to adoption by referendum of a constitutional amendment acknowledging "the right to life of the unborn."

But the anti-abortionists have continued their vicious anti-woman campaigns. In 1986, they were able to force the closing of the two major clinics (Open Line Counseling and the Dublin Well Woman Centre) that provided information and assistance on obtaining abortions in Britain as part of their pregnancy counseling services.

The Supreme Court held that such activity was aiding and abetting illegal activity, that is, "the destruction of the life of the unborn." As a result of that case, the few other providers of abortion have, for the most part, censored themselves. Even the media has limited (if not eliminated) its thing related to abortion.

Refusing to bow to such pressure, the student unions of the two major Dublin universities have continued to carry out the mandate of their student bodies by printing abortionservice information in student publications. With the closing of the women's counseling services, the universities are virtually the only remaining public source of information for many women in the community.

The students have now become the target of the anti-abortionists' latest campaign. For the second year in a row, the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) has sought to secure a permanent injunction against the Union of Irish Students (UIS), Dublin, which would prohibit publication of abortion information.

In October, SPUC was again denied this injunction by a judge who agreed with the students that the case should be referred to the European Court for Human Rights. SPUC is now appealing.

Despite their successes to date, the students are not relying on any court to ensure their ultimate victory, but on their unity and the strength of their community support. Rallying to the call of the Dublin students, an overwhelming majority of student unions of Irish universities have decided to begin publishing abortion-service information. SPUC will be forced to take on the entire student movement.

Student leaders have pledged to defy any injunction that might be issued, even if it leads to their imprisonment or the sequestration of their operating funds.

In a recent move, the Irish censorship board has asked Cosmopolitan magazine, whose abortion services advertisments have become the primary source of such information for Irish women, to remove the ads. Unfortunately, the magazine appears ready to cave in without a fight. If it does so, the students will call for a boycott of the magazine.

The UIS is calling on people in other countries to put pressure on the Irish government (through letter-writing campaigns and embassy picketlines). The case could prove to be a major embarrassment for Prime Minister Haughey, who will assume the presidency of the European Community in January.

Leaders of this struggle acknowledge that the breadth of their support does not reflect a growing sentiment in favor of abortion rights in Ireland. Instead, it is based on defense of the right to information.

Nevertheless, this battle represents a major step forward for women and supporters of choice. It is the first time the powerful anti-abortion forces have suffered a defeat and been put on the defensive.—Brenda Bishop