Translations:Ireland/8/en

From 1935 to 1980, contraception was banned in Ireland. This was largely due to the Roman Catholic Church's view on birth control, which stated that birth control "deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life" and was therefore "an offence against the law of God and of nature." However, during this period, there were legal loopholes that allowed some people to obtain condoms (like making donations to family planning associations). The first serious attempt to liberalize Irish abortion laws came in 1971, when Senator Mary Robinson tried to introduce a bill into the Seanad, the upper house of the Irish legislature, but was not allowed to read the bill. The bill caused both controversy and discussion, but it was not passed. Later, in 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing marital privacy, which included the right to make contraceptive choices. However, the prohibition on contraceptive sales was not lifted until 1980, when the Health (Family Planning) Bill was passed. In 1985, the law was further broadened to allow the sale of condoms and spermicide (without a prescription) to anyone over 18 years old.