Catholic, working-class and Irish: this is an ancestral identity which can be deployed in Australia with great authority. Many Australians trace their roots back to Ireland, the country with a deeply Catholic history, where last weekend a clear majority voted to repeal the constitutional amendment that made it illegal to terminate a pregnancy.
Associated with figures like Ned Kelly and Peter Lalor, Irish heritage in Australia tends to connote a kind of radical underdog spirit, marked by oppositional politics and survival of poverty and persecution.
From the Eureka Stockade to the recently re-animated Democratic Labour Party, the history of labour politics in Australia is inextricable from Irish Catholicism. For example, in presenting himself to the public as a Labor man, NSW's pro-life Opposition Leader Luke Foley has cited his 'tough upbringing' in a family of Irish descent.
The decision in Ireland is not the first time the country has voted in favour of policies that are at odds with Catholic ordinances on reproduction and human relationships. In recent years Irish citizens have supported the legalisation of divorce and same-sex marriage.
This kind of change in the Irish population even has the pro-life lobby within the Church reconsidering its advocacy strategies. Writing in Religion News Service, Jesuit priest Thomas J. Reese says that:
'The overwhelming vote in Ireland in favour of allowing access to abortion shows that the pro-life movement needs a new strategy. Trying to preserve anti-abortion laws or trying to reverse the legalisation of an abortion is simply not working.'
Even in America, where pro-life sentiment is strong and strident, Reese notes that 'most Americans think that abortion should be legal even if they think it is immoral'.
"Even in America, where pro-life sentiment is strong and strident, Reese notes that 'most Americans think that abortion should be legal even if they think it is immoral'."
This has a parallel in Australia, where there has been consistent support for the legality of abortion, including among practicing Catholics. A 2003 study showed that most (43 per cent of 4219) participants strongly agreed with the statement 'Abortion should be legal', while 29 per cent 'agreed'. Of these, respectively, 33 and 39 per cent also said they were Catholic.
The effects of criminalisation in Ireland are well-known, with the 2012 case of Savita Halappanavar acting as a lightning-rod for the referendum. A resident of Galway, Halappanavar sought an abortion when she was 17 weeks pregnant. The abortion was refused and she