Five years after Ireland’s historic abortion referendum, access to care is still ‘patchy’

In 2018, the Irish public voted overwhelmingly to repeal the country’s Eighth Amendment, overturning one of the strictest abortion bans in the European Union.

There were scenes of jubilation as the referendum result was announced, with many in Ireland seeing it as a historic step that would give women control over their own bodies.

But five years on, although abortion is free and legally available in Ireland up to 12 weeks of pregnancy – after that allowed only in exceptional circumstances, if there is a risk to the mother’s life or the fetus is not expected to survive – the abortion system is still far from where campaigners and charities would like it to be.

“The system is failing a certain number of women every year,” Ailbhe Smyth, a longtime women’s rights activist who campaigned for the repeal, told CNN.

One woman who experienced a failed medical abortion which pushed her to the edge of Ireland’s 12-week limit for terminations, told CNN that she felt unsupported by medical practitioners during the process and was made to feel ashamed.

“I felt like I had to say I had a miscarriage as opposed to an abortion, because there’s still stigma in the country,” said the woman, who requested that CNN call her Sarah due to her fears of the effects of stigma.