The present political uproar over abortion law in Ireland — one of only three Western European nations, together with Poland and Malta, which continue to ban the practice — seems to have arrived with ferocity. The warning signs, however, are decades-old. Ireland has been abortion-free for as long as anyone can remember. The illegality of abortion has been codified in some form since 1861, and in 1983 the Constitution of Ireland was explicitly amended by the public to guarantee the e…
