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CV NEWS FEED // During a United Nations conference aimed at alleviating poverty for women and girls, a delegation from Ireland co-hosted an event promoting strategies for expanding abortion access on a global scale.
From March 11 to March 22, the UN is hosting the 68th annual Commission on the Status of Women, (CSW68) under the theme, “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective”.
On March 12, Ireland delegates at the conference co-hosted a breakfast reception celebrating the Center for Reproductive Rights’ launch of a new pro-abortion manual titled “Pathways to Change: Building Stronger Legal Guarantees for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.”
The Permanent Mission of Ireland and the Permanent Mission of Nepal co-hosted the event with the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR).
According to the Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues (PNCI), the manual promotes “successful strategies to change laws on abortion and other issues in the sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda.”
The X account “Ireland at the UN” posted on March 12, “Sexual and reproductive health & rights are fundamental to the empowerment of women & girls. Today [Ireland] hosted a #CSW68 side event celebrating legal and policy reforms on #SRHR from across the world.”
The post also noted that at the event, Ireland’s Minister for Justice Helen McEntee “shared [Ireland’s] journey providing and protecting SRHR.” McEntee reposted the tweet.
Ireland legalized abortion up to 12 weeks, and in instances when the mother’s life or health is at risk, in 2018. Previously, abortion was only legal to save the life of the mother.
McEntree’s presentation at the UN event detailed “how Ireland went from being one of the most pro-life countries in the world” to “legalizing abortion,” PNCI wrote.
The CRR manual highlights different countries that, in recent years, have expanded abortion access, such as Ireland, Chile, Rwanda, and others. The manual notes that in certain countries, weakening the Catholic Church’s pro-life influence was crucial in passing pro-abortion legislation.
The CRR manual write that in Rwanda,
because the Catholic church was staunchly opposed to the reforms, engagement with religious leaders from other religions and churches proved important. Many of them were not against law reform and although they would not actively support calls for legal and policy change, they would not oppose it.
By revealing a spectrum of diverse religious views, the force of religious arguments against reform were weakened. This was highly influential with policy makers, who realized that they would not face as much opposition from religious groups as they had previously feared.
CRR’s manual explains that to expand abortion access in Chile,
alliances with Catholic organizations and experts on Catholicism facilitated engagement with policy makers from a religious perspective. Workshops between members of Congress and relevant experts provided an important space for discussions that engaged with their religious beliefs and facilitated exchanges about how the reforms could be supported by Catholics.
To legalize abortion in Ireland, the manual explains that targeting “unsure” voters with messaging and using various political engagement strategies were important.
PNCI wrote that “Pro-life organizations around the world can glean useful insights from the strategies presented in order to be better prepared to defend life and family in their own countries and communities.”
