DRAFT CHAPTER, forthcoming in: Dr. Lisa Smyth, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Queen's University Belfast. 6 College Park, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK. Tel. +44 (0)28 9097 3251 Email L.Smyth@qub.ac.uk Website Quilty, Aideen, Conlon, Catherine and Kennedy Sinead (eds.) 2015 The Abortion Papers Ireland 2013, Cork: UCC Press. Ireland's Abortion Ban: Honour, Shame and the Possibility of a Moral Revolution Anthony Appiah (2010) argues that collective forms of identity are infused with moral norms, in ways which direct and give meaning to our actions. What he describes as 'honour codes', namely bundles of norms which define the moral character of a collectivity, are an important feature of social identities, since they motivate and authorise how we act, what we believe and how we mutual evaluate each other. The honour, or esteem, of both collectivities and their individual members depends, to a large extent, on conformity to the code, an important source of shared, as well as personal, pride. Violations of honour codes tend to produce intense responses, not least in the form of shame, a deeply social emotion which supports and sustains the moral norms captured by such codes (Scheff 2000; Solomon 2007:100). Appiah argues that the restoration of collective honour following a violation can depend on punishing, excluding or even executing an individual who has brought shame on the group. However, this is not to argue that honour codes are static or determining. While powerful as a means of generating social conformity, such codes do rely on intensive suppression of dissent and are vulnerable to pressure in various ways, which can ultimately result in what Appiah describes as moral revolutions (2010:162). What follows aims to explore Ireland's long history of struggles over access to legal abortions in the state through this lens, considering whether and to what extent the recent enactment of legislation allowing for pregnancies to be legally ended can be understood as a significant step towards a moral revolution. While the history and politics of these events is
well documented (e.g. see Girvin 1993; Hesketh 1990; Hug 1999; Mullally 2005; O'Carroll 1991; O'Reilly 1992; Smyth 1992; Smyth 2005; Smyth 2008), it is worth considering the emotional tensions this honour code has generated, and the ways in which it has eventually resulted in something of a reversal. Establishing an Honour Code: The 'pro-life' nation and the ban on abortion The constitutional prohibition on abortion, ratified in the Republic of Ireland in 1983, was legitimised by advocates as a vital support for the moral heart of the nation in the face of impending change. This view was popularised through the deployment of a moral panic concerning national survival (Smyth 2005). A concerted effort was made from the late 1970s to define the nation in terms of a principal moral norm, described as 'pro-life', and taking the form of an almost absolute ban on abortion. This was intended to set the Irish nation apart from and above its significant others, who had, it was argued, lost sight of the value of human