Northern Ireland After Repeal the Eighth: Democratic Challenges

What does Ireland’s repeal referendum mean for abortion access in Northern Ireland? This question is considered here in terms of the tensions between institutional and cultural opportunities for campaign groups to mobilise the public around the issue of abortion. While the politics of abortion in this region, as elsewhere, link moral and political life, the political and historical context shapes the debate in particular ways. The chapter examines the organized efforts of the two major political groups in the region to frame what is at stake in abortion legislation, whether as a matter of democracy in a devolved post-conflict context; or of equal citizenship. The chapter examines pro-choice and anti-abortion organisational efforts to engage in core political tasks of frame building and bridging, establishing relevance to everyday life and motivating support. In Northern Ireland these tasks are pursued within a restricted political context which is at the same time culturally open. This chapter argues that the deployment of common frames of meaning by conflicting organisations in this context indicates the importance of cultural politics in generating change, particularly in contexts such as Northern Ireland, where institutional structures reinforce the political stalemate. The challenges abortion politics poses to democracy and post-conflict constitutionalism form the core of the chapter’s analysis.