Road to Repeal

50 Years of Struggle in Ireland for Contraception and Abortion

Derek Speirs illustrator Pauline Conroy editor Therese Caherty editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:The Lilliput Press Ltd

Published:14th Sep '22

Should be back in stock very soon

Road to Repeal cover

Road to Repeal: 50 Years of Struggle in Ireland for Contraception and Abortion opens in 1970 when the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement burst onto the streets and screens of a society bewildered by women demanding equal status in the home and in the workplace. It tracks the bitter backlash to their successes that culminated in the Eighth Amendment’s fixture in the Irish Constitution in 1983. Over five decades, Road to Repeal describes and depicts individual tragedy, referendums, court cases, the actions of a misogynist Church and State. It shines a light on the journey of thousands of women and girls who braved stigma and hardship, often travelling alone and anonymously for medical treatment they were denied in Ireland. Road to Repeal closes with the visually dazzling Together For Yes campaign whose determination and grit finally got rid of Article 40.3.3 on May 25th, 2018.

Amazing history, very pertinent now” MARGARET ATWOOD

Amazing history, very pertinent now” MARGARET ATWOOD


“Road to Repeal is a splendid production, both visually and in textual content. There is a terrific balance between the vibrant images and the really informative text.” CATRIONA CROWE, archivist and broadcaster


“This powerful book is a memento of what it was like to grow up in a theocracy and a monument to the courage of the citizenry who organised and fought for bodily autonomy over decades, across generations, classes, and genders.” PAULA MEEHAN, poet


“The editors of Road to Repeal do an exceptional job of charting that painful history and exposing how women in Ireland were outcast, stigmatised, and criminalised for having a body. They have set it down in a beautifully produced photobook that should be required reading because it explains why we are where we are right now, which is in a country where women still have a struggle on their hands.” Clodagh Finn, Irish Examiner


“What emanates from the huge number of images is the bravery of those who stood up against the misogyny that hemmed women and others in … an informative timeline, a vital reminder and a visual education in the waves of activism that kept coming, no matter how those who held power in Irish society attempted to stymie them.” Una Mullaly, Irish Times


Irish Daily Mail Book of the Year 2022

ISBN: 9781843518532

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 800g

164 pages