Dateline: May 22

On Tuesday Dateline tackles Ireland’s Abortion Debate and asks whether the majority Catholic country will vote to legalise abortion?

Ireland, a majority Catholic country, is one of the few places in Europe where abortion is illegal, even in cases of rape or severe foetal abnormality.

Now, the country is heading to the polls in a landmark referendum on May 25 that could finally overturn its abortion laws.

This Tuesday, Dateline reporter Shaunagh Connaire goes to the heart of the referendum to meet women and families from both sides of the bitterly divisive debate.

Enshrined in its constitution is the protection of the unborn’s right to life – but at what cost?

Hitting the streets of Waterford, Shaunagh meets a new generation of young, grassroots campaigners called the Youth Defence who are fighting hard to keep Ireland abortion free.

“This is a human rights issue”, explains Christina Darcy, a trainee teacher. “We have constitutional protection of the unborn, like an equal right to life for the mother and the baby. Why would we take that out of our constitution?

But across the border in Manchester, Shaunagh meets Irish women being pushed to extremes.

In 2016, 3,265 Irish women travelled to the UK to get an abortion. Due to the expense, and lack of local support, most make the trip in one day, risking their health in the process.

“I was given a card with a number on it in order to protect your identity”, says one such woman Cathy, who paid £400 for her surgical abortion in a Manchester clinic.

“You’re just a number for the day. It’s really heartbreaking to know that you are almost being exported; that this country doesn’t want to know about your problems or your issues.”

Abortion is banned unless a pregnant woman is about to die and any woman who has one – even in cases of rape or if the foetus is unviable – faces up to 14 years in jail.

Back in Dublin, Shaunagh meets mum and Pro Choice campaigner Claire Cullen who reveals the trauma of being forced to continue her pregnancy until her baby died. At 22 weeks, she found out her daughter had an abnormality and would die in the womb but couldn’t access an abortion.

“I had a routine to check if she was dead yet. When I went out, people would say things like, ‘Congratulations, when are you due? Do you know what you’re having?’

“I didn’t want her to die but I had no choice, she was going to die. I needed it to be over so I could cope, so I could go on, so I could mourn, so I wasn’t so afraid all the time.”

Pro-life campaigners argue other children’s lives would be threatened if abortion is legalised.

Thomas and his wife, Lisa, both believe their daughter, who has a severe disability, would not have been born without constitutional protections for the unborn.

About 80% of Irish people say they’re Catholic, but they’ve defied the church in other referendums like gay marriage. Will they now follow suit and vote yes to its most sensitive question yet?

Tuesday 22 May at 9.30pm on SBS.