Bishops, knights — and Pawns? Traditional thought and the Irish abortion referendum debate of 1983

Abstract

The traditionalist stance in the abortion referendum debate of 1983 is seen to reflect the nature of traditional belief systems generally. A tendency to treat current beliefs as absolute and alternative beliefs as anathema is shown to underlie many of the traditionalists’ contribution to the debate. The result was that the referendum was treated as a rite of renewal directed to the maintenance of cultural supremacy. The recourse to conventionalism and authoritarian legalism stifled the possibility of genuine democratic debate and pre‐empted the democratic consideration of alternative rights and liberties.