Catalogue Number
NMLH.2025.32.5
Object Name
badge
Title
'Repealed. Manchester Irish Abortion Rights Campaign'
Place
Manchester, UK, Ireland
People
Manchester Irish Abortion Rights Campaign
Events
Irish Abortion Referendum 2018
Description
A black badge with white text which reads. 'Repealed. Manchester Irish Abortion Rights Campaign'.
This badge was worn by a member of the pro-choice abortion rights campaign group Sister Supporter during their successful campaign for the creation of a 'buffer zone' around the MSI Reproductive Choices clinic in Fallowfield, Manchester. It refers to the successful repeal of the ban on abortion in Ireland. The Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, introduced in 1983, had guaranteed the right of life to fetuses unless continuing the pregnancy was life threatening. This had led to cases where people had died from medical staff refusing to provide medical care to save a pregnant woman's life as they weren't sure the case was 'life threatening' enough to merit overriding the fetus' rights by causing an abortion. The ban had led to significant numbers of Irish women travelling to England for abortion care. As a city with a large Irish migrant population, Manchester had a strong network of support for Irish people travelling to access abortion.
In 2018, a referendum was held, asking the Irish public if the constitution should be changed to allow for abortions to be legal. The campaign was known as 'Repeal the 8th', and two thirds of voters voted for the constitution to be amended so the Oireachtas (Parliament) could introduce abortion legalisation. The 2018 Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill permits abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, in cases of risk to the health of the pregnant person (including mental health), or if the fetus is likely to die during pregnancy or shortly after birth. The successful law change in Ireland, a country where religious belief was often seen as a reason why abortion might never be decriminalised, was viewed as inspirational by abortion rights campaigners in the UK, particularly Northern Ireland, where at the time, abortion was completely illegal.
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