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The Referendum on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland

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The Referendum on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland Ariane Katharina Vaughan The Referendum on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland. Gendered Discourses in Pro- Life and Pro-Choice Campaigns Master’s Thesis to be awarded the degree of Master of Arts in Joint Degree Gender Studies at the University of Graz, Austria Supervised by Prof. Dr. Libora Oates-Indruchová Department of Sociology Graz, September 2018 Abstract The Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution acknowledges the equal right to life of the ‘unborn’ and effectively makes abortion illegal except when the life of the pregnant woman is at risk. The Referendum that was held on the possible repeal of the Amendment in May 2018 marked a climax of long and ongoing complex debates on abortion in Ireland. The majority of Irish people voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment and therefore, abortion will become legalised by the end of the year. In discourses on abortion, pro-choice and pro-life groups have always been major players shaping people’s views on the issue and reproducing existing notions of gender. This project’s aim is to research how the two main campaigns Together for Yes and LoveBoth have drawn on previous gendered discourses on abortion. Using Judith Butler’s theory of performativity of gender, the thesis presents an in-depth analysis of the Tweets posted by both campaigns, employing the Discourse-Historical Approach. The findings suggest that the campaigns draw on all previous typical discourses on abortion. Both campaigns strongly rely on discourses which connect abortion and the construction of national identity through a perceived collective responsibility of women. In addition, they draw on discourses of emotionality which emphasise individual narratives and ask for compassionate treatment of women, although both groups constitute the meaning of what is ‘compassionate care’ differently. The thesis argues that both campaigns, in varying degree, reproduce gender norms, especially by drawing on discourses of motherhood and by emphasising the ‘natural’ binary system. Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Research Question .............................................................................................................. 2 1.2 Current State of Research .................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Chapter Outline .................................................................................................................. 5 2. Literature Review: Debates over Abortion in Ireland ...................................................... 7 3. The Road to the Referendum ....................................................................................... 14 3.1 The Eighth Amendment ..................................................................................................... 15 3.2 The Citizens’ Assembly ...................................................................................................... 16 3.3 Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution ......................................... 17 3.4 Final Steps Leading to the Referendum .............................................................................. 18 4. Supporting Life, Supporting Choice: A contested dichotomy ......................................... 19 4.1 Pro-Life History ................................................................................................................. 20 4.2 Pro-Choice History ............................................................................................................ 21 4.3 Pro-Life Argumentation ..................................................................................................... 22 4.4 Critique on Pro-Life ........................................................................................................... 23 4.5 Pro-Choice Argumentation ................................................................................................ 23 4.6 Critique on Pro-Choice....................................................................................................... 24 4.7 General Critique on the Binary Oppositions ....................................................................... 24 4.8 Introducing LoveBoth and Together for Yes ....................................................................... 25 4.8.1 The Campaign LoveBoth ...................................................................................................................... 25 4.8.2 The Campaign Together for Yes .......................................................................................................... 26 5. Previous Discourses of Abortion .................................................................................. 27 5.1 The Foetus ........................................................................................................................ 28 5.2 Opposition: The Foetus vs. the Woman .............................................................................. 28 5.3 Women’s Right to Choose/Autonomy ................................................................................ 29 5.4 Motherhood ..................................................................................................................... 30 5.5 Being Worthy of Having an Abortion.................................................................................. 31 5.6 Social Justice ..................................................................................................................... 32 5.7 Religion ............................................................................................................................ 32 5.8 Feminism .......................................................................................................................... 33 5.9 ‘Irishness’ ......................................................................................................................... 33 5.10 Morality of the State ....................................................................................................... 34 5.11 Ireland’s Colonial History ................................................................................................. 34 5.12 ‘Abortion Tourism’ .......................................................................................................... 35 5.13 Individual Cases .............................................................................................................. 35 5.14 Emotionality ................................................................................................................... 35 5.15 ‘Pseudo-Science’ ............................................................................................................. 36 5.16 Abortion as a ‘Necessary Evil’ .......................................................................................... 36 6. Assumptions ............................................................................................................... 36 7. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................... 37 8. Methodology: Discourse-Historical Approach .............................................................. 46 9. To Repeal, or Not to Repeal? A Discussion on Gendered Discourses .............................. 51 9.1 Fear: Abortion and the Eighth Amendment ........................................................................ 52 9.1.1 Previous discourses ............................................................................................................................. 52 9.1.2 LoveBoth .............................................................................................................................................. 54 9.1.3 Together for Yes .................................................................................................................................. 58 9.1.4 Fear: Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 60 9.2 Justice: Equality for All?..................................................................................................... 62 9.2.1 Previous Discourses ............................................................................................................................. 62 9.2.2 LoveBoth .............................................................................................................................................. 64 9.2.3 Together for Yes .................................................................................................................................. 67 9.2.4 Justice: Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 70 9.3 Responsibility: ‘Traditionally’ Irish? ................................................................................... 71 9.3.1 Previous Discourses ............................................................................................................................
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