"A Hundred Little Violences, a Hundred Little Wounds": Personal Disclosure, Shame, and Privacy in Ireland's Abortion Access

Abstract

In 2018, after the final votes had been tallied in the Republic of Ireland’s successful referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment, taoiseach Leo Varadkar tweeted, “Fantastic crowds at Dublin Castle. Remarkable day. A quiet revolution, a great act of democracy.” Ongoing efforts to reform Ireland’s restrictive abortion laws were, however, far from quiet. Advocacy for abortion reform long preceded the referendum and was public, visible, and often painful. Legal scholar Máiréad Enright characterizes the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment as inflicting harm. Reflecting on the labor of making legal change, Enright recalled, “I sat in a taxi while two women who had told their everyday abortion stories publicly wept together because they heard again and again in the public campaign talk that only exceptional abortions were legitimate. A hundred little violences. A hundred little wounds.”