A drift towards a more liberal abortion regime in Ireland has reversed, a new study has revealed.
According to a Behaviour & Attitudes (B&A) poll for The Sunday Times newspaper, figures supporting a more liberal abortion regime in this country have slipped since the same research was conducted in 2013.
Where the B&A found, in January 2013, in the wake of the tragic death of expectant mother Savita Halappanavar, that 80% of respondents to its poll were in favour of a termination in the case of a fatal foetal abnormality, the latest poll reveals a full 10-point drop to 70%. A similar drop is evident among those supporting abortion in the cases of rape and incest, down 7 points, also to 70%.
In terms of freer availability of abortion, based along the lines of practices in Britain, the B&A survey found just 33% support for such a move.
The downward trend comes as Ireland’s political parties begin to gear up for a campaign towards repealing the equal right to life of the unborn and the mother under the Constitution’s 8th Amendment. Among the parties, members of Sinn Féin and Labour are the strongest supporters of wider abortion provision, while Fianna Fáil is the most conservative.
Commenting on the debate around the 8th Amendment, Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin conceded that, with current pro-life attitudes so strong, any referendum in the immediate future “would be beaten comprehensively, and you couldn’t return to the question for a generation”.
Deputy Ó Ríordáin estimated that Ireland is four years away from any referendum that might offer the pro-abortion side a chance of victory.