The referendum debate suggests the Republic is still a difficult place for women, writes Gina Menzies, who is calling for a No vote
This is no country for young women. Government and church have conspired together to visit upon the women of this State a constitutional amendment, which guarantees to compromise well, and truly their human dignity.
A woman or "under-age" girl who seeks an abortion, and anyone who aids and abets her, on conviction "shall be liable on conviction . . . to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 years . . ."
No other offence is encapsulated with its penalty in our Constitution. Crimes such as murder, rape, incest, the sexual abuse of children, State neglect or (worse) State-inflicted illness have not been treated in this way.
Why is this the only "crime", other than treason, which requires enshrinement in the Constitution?
Curiously, there is a parallel provision in the 1983 Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church. Here, the penalty is not imprisonment, but the ultimate church sanction of excommunication. Canon 1398 states: "A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication."
Others who can receive the church penalty of excommunication are those guilty of heresy, and those who use force against the Pope. Otherwise, this ultimate penalty is confined to matters of clerical discipline, such as breaking the seal of confession. This penalty is not imposed for murder, rape or the sexual abuse of children.
Here again, we can ask why abortion is singled out for such draconian treatment? The insertion of penalties for women in the Code of Canon Law and in the Irish Constitution indicates clearly a view reminiscent of the worst kind of misogynous tendencies of men in authority, which women have endured for centuries. Church and State have shared a view that women's bodies must be controlled.
Until 1883, when a woman married, her property became that of her husband. Women only gained the right to vote in parliamentary elections in the last century.
Up until the 1960s, the Church required women to be cleansed after childbirth by what was known as "churching". The State denied women control over their own fertility by denying them freedom to choose their own method of contraception until the McGee case in 1974.
It is only in the last few years that girls could become altar servers. So, we have a long history of misogyny guiding lawmakers, decision-makers and others who would regulate our society. In the past, this might be excused in an ignorant and clumsy society. However, this situation persists today, in some instances subconsciously, but in many cases deliberately.
How can a women's welfare be guaranteed when the State forces her to carry to term a non-viable pregnancy such as referred to in a recent Irish Times letters page?
The life and dignity of women is further transgressed by this proposed constitutional amendment, which seeks to assault the doctor- patient relationship. There is an implied attack on patient confidentiality in section 5(2). If this amendment is passed, any minister in the future can make an order seeking "confirmation of records".
Currently, only a judge or a tribunal established by the Oireachtas can make such an order. Legal advice given to the Medical Defence Union has indicated that provision 5(2) in the proposed legislation could breach the normal doctor-patient confidentiality. This is despite the Patient's Charter drawn up by the Department of Health, which guarantees confidentiality in respect of patients' records.
As far back as 1981 Richard A. McCormick, an eminent Jesuit theologian, stated:
"Abortion is a matter that is morally problematic, pastorally delicate, legislatively thorny, constitutionally insecure, ecumenically divisive, medically normless, humanly anguishing, radically provocative, journalistically abused, personally biased and widely performed."
This is no country for young or old women.
Gina Menzies is a theologian and critic