Irish women campaign against treaty
By Mary Ruddy
The Galway Repeal the Eighth Amendment Campaign has launched a campaign for a No vote to the Maastricht Treaty on European Union.
Ann Lyons, spokesperson for the Campaign, said "The decision to campaign against Maastricht was because the Irish Protocol, undemocratically included in the treaty by the Irish government and agreed to by European member states ... denies Irish women's rights — including the rights to travel and information — and relegates Irish women to second class Irish and European citizenship".
When the Maastricht Treaty was being negotiated in 1991, the Irish government negotiated a special protocol designed to preserve the Irish constitutional provisions enacted in 1983 which recognise a right to life of the unborn. Subsequent Supreme Court interpretations of the 1983 amendment have decided that (a) there is no right to information which could be seen as helping to procure an abortion (a decision which led to the closure of counselling centres); (b) a pregnant woman's right to travel may be restricted.
The situation became very complex in February, when the Supreme Court ruled that in certain circumstances abortion is lawful. This ruling was made in the case of a 14-year-old rape victim who was prohibited from leaving to procure an abortion in England.
Women's groups and pro-choice activists, while welcoming this part of the ruling, were very disappointed that the Supreme Court left intact the previous judgment on the right to information. Furthermore, three of the five judges declared that the right to travel is a lesser right than the right to life of the unborn.
In those circumstances, women's groups and pro-choice supporters are left with little option but to call for a No vote to Maastricht and a repeal to the 1983 Amendment.