The Irish state and reproductive rights: the illegal trade in contraceptives, c.1922-79

Contraception was illegal in Ireland from 1935 to 1979; however, declining birth rates in this period suggest that many Irish men and women were practising fertility control measures. Unlike other European states such as Germany, Italy and France, where birth control bans were part of wider pro-natalist social policies, state legislation in Ireland was heavily influenced by moral panic and Catholic teachings. The Censorship of Publications Act (1929) prohibited the selling, publication and distribution of literature relating to contraception, while the Criminal Law Amendment Act (1935) banned the sale, importation and advertising of contraceptive appliances and substances. This paper will reveal how men and women gained access to contraceptive devices and literature in Ireland in the period from 1922 to 1979. Utilising court records based in the National Archives of Ireland and documentation of court cases in the Irish press and publications such as Irish Chemist and Druggist and Birth Control News, it examines convictions for the sale of contraceptives in Ireland and considers how rigorously the Criminal Law Amendment Act was enforced. While illuminating the stories of birth control activists and persons prosecuted for the sale of contraceptives, who have previously received limited attention from scholars, this paper will also allow us to situate the Irish case within a broader international canvas, and will highlight the impact of the Irish State and Catholic Church on men and women’s reproductive rights and the challenges faced by those who wished to limit their families in the period.