Debating Contraception, Abortion And Divorce In An Era Of Controversy And Change: New Agendas And RTÉ Radio And Television Programmes 1968-2018

Abstract

The study begins with the publication in 1968 of the papal encyclical, Humanae Vitae, forbidding all forms of artificial contraception, and ends in 2018 with the repeal of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, which had introduced a constitutional ban on abortion. At the outset, contraception, divorce and abortion were legally unobtainable in Ireland and forbidden by the Catholic Church. Fifty years later, all three are legally obtainable. The period 1983 to 2018 saw a series of what came to be known as 'social' referendums on proposed amendments to the Constitution of Ireland relating to abortion, marriage equality and divorce. Those guarding what they saw as essential Irish family and sexual values were pitched against those seeking to advance and liberalise Irish society. Yet this was no simple, clear cut, binary struggle between homogenous 'conservative' and 'liberal' groups. Each side comprised its share of unlikely bedfellows. The airwaves were where these campaigns were fought. The prominence of the referendums in RTÉs broadcasts and debates provides a valuable reflection of the nation?s agenda and concerns. Since these were generally broadcast live, the clashes between all shades of opinion constitute primary source material which, until now (for reasons suggested in the study), have received little academic examination. The cornerstone of this study, for which 230 programmes - broadcast over 50 years - were examined and many transcribed, is analysis of broadcast material, especially televisual. The study identifies those who came together to form the greatest grassroots movement of the twentieth century and persuaded the two main political parties to hold a referendum in 1983, which proved one of the most divisive in Irish history to that point. It evaluates the efficacy of major arguments, vehicles, strategies and tactics of the debates. It notes the emerging salience of compassion and the influence of personal stories on more recent electorates. The study and its accompanying catalogue will make the rich resources of the national broadcasting archives more accessible to future researchers of this period, allowing them to search the wealth of eminently quotable content - virtually unexamined to date - contained in this valuable store of the living word. While the literature, print media and official documents can describe the controversies over 50 years, they struggle to capture the deep distrust of parliamentary democracy on the side of the 'traditionalists'; and the dogmatism, vitriol, interruptions, shouting down and talking over opponents, which marked so many of the debates, revealing levels of entrenchment worsening over time. The broadcast debates also reveal that the confrontations on contraception, divorce and abortion did not follow sequentially, but occur in parallel in a contiguous pattern – to the extent that the period 1968-2018 may be identified not simply as a period of time, but as an era of struggle in the area of sexual politics.