Embodying Irish Abortion Reform – Bodies, Emotions , and Feminist Activism : Bodies, Emotions, and Feminist Activism

This book explores the experiences of people affected by Ireland's constitutional abortion ban. Through in-depth research and interviews, the author uncovers how the 8th Amendment led women and gestating people live their bodies as "future aborting bodies," and how the need to 'prepare' for crisis pregnancies shaped everyday practices.

Embodying Irish Abortion Reform has been shortlisted for the 2025 BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize. Offering a unique perspective, this book explores the lived, embodied and affective experiences of reproductive rights activists living under, and mobilizing against, Ireland’s constitutional abortion ban. Through qualitative research and in-depth interviews with activists, the author exposes the subtle influence of the 8th Amendment on Irish women and their (reproductive) bodies, whether or not they have ever attempted to access a clandestine abortion. It explains how the everyday embodied practices, bodily labours and affective experiences of women and gestating people were shaped by the 8th amendment and through the need to ‘prepare’ for crisis pregnancies. In addition, it reveals the integral role of women’s bodies and emotions in changing the political and social landscape in Ireland, through the historical transformation of the country’s abortion laws.