Abortion and Nation

Abortion politics are contentious and divisive in many parts of the world, but nowhere more so than in Ireland. Abortion and Nation examines the connection between abortion politics and hegemonic struggles over national identity and the nation-state in the Irish Republic. Situating the abortion question in the global context of human rights politics, as well as international social movements, Lisa Smyth analyses the formation and transformation of abortion politics in Ireland from the early 1980s to the present day. She considers whether or not the shifting connections between morality, rights and nationhood promise a new era of gender equality in the context of nation-state citizenship. The book provides a new sociological framework through which the significance of conflict over abortion and reproductive freedom is connected to conflict over national identity. It also offers a distinctive in-depth consideration of the connection between gender and nationhood, particularly in terms of its impact on women's status as citizens; within the nation-state; within the European Union; and as members of a global civil society.

Dr Lisa Smyth is from the School of Sociology and Social Policy at Queen's University Belfast, UK.

Contents: Abortion politics, the Nation-State and globalization; Abortion and reproductive freedom; The politics of authenticity: nationality, gender and Irishness; National entrepreneurs: a moral panic emerges; Abortion, official nationhood and gendered citizenship; The X case and the familial 'Pro-Life' nation; The X case and the Republican Democratic Nation-State; Towards a Liberal Democratic political culture?; Conclusion: women in the Nation-State; Bibliography; Index.