Abortion Rights in Quebec and Ireland: Divergent Paths

The ability to control ones personal reproduction should be experienced by all women, regardless of citizenship. For Irish women, however, this does not exist. Irelands constitutional protection of a fetal right to life exists in direct conflict with a womans right to control her body. At first glance, one might point toward Irelands Catholicism, or perhaps its strong sense of nationalism, as likely reasons. When we consider Quebec, a jurisdiction with a historically strong sense of both Catholicism and nationalism, the answer as to why Ireland has one of the most conservative policies against abortion in the western world becomes more complex. By considering competing institutional strategies, the role of nationalism, the role of Catholicism, elites, and other interest groups, and the impact of multi-level governance, this dissertation seeks to uncover how Ireland and Quebec have such different policies regulating abortion rights. With regard to institutions and opportunities for the success of social movements, I consider which factors have been both present and absent from the reproductive rights movement in Ireland, ultimately leading to an incredibly slow progression of the liberalization of abortion access. I emphasize the ways that authoritative agents such as Dr. Henry Morgentaler, political institutions such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and an effective womens movement came together to foster the necessary climate for change. I also consider the role of various institutions which affected (both via their presence and absence) the reproductive rights movement in both Quebec and Ireland. Through this dissertation I found that a jurisdictions abortion policy is actually a result of a number of intersecting variables. In the case of Ireland, abortion policy has remained quite restrictive as a result of a lack of political opportunity structures that aide in creating a more liberal policy. In Quebec, political opportunities were available for change via institutions such as the Charter, thus allowing for abortion policy to be liberalized. Furthermore, the avenues available for womens movements to create change were very different in Ireland and Quebec.