Effects of the neoliberal agenda on abortion policy and sexual rights in Poland and Ireland. A Comparative Feminist Global Political Economy analysis

Abstract

In Europe, abortion policy shifts drastically across the region despite the EU´s efforts to make it equally accessible. The differences in access to abortion are often connected to the level of religious impact on the government, and Roman Catholicism is often viewed as the villain when an EU country restricts its abortion and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) policies. This thesis will through a process-tracing method and a Feminist Global Political Economy (FGPE) theoretical framework, look at two of the most Roman Catholic states within the EU, Ireland and Poland, to see if there are alternative explanations for the Catholic Church´s influence. Ireland and Poland are interesting cases because they both have had major changes in their SRHR and abortion policies since 1990, however, the changes have been in the opposite direction. The background in this thesis shows an overview of Ireland becoming more liberal -and Poland's becoming more restricted- in their abortion policies. Later with the use of the FGPE theoretical framework, focusing on Neoliberalism, Household and Social Reproduction and Reproductive governance, this thesis examines alternative explanations for these shifts in abortion policy. This study found that there seems to be a correlation between the adaptation to the neoliberal agenda and abortion policies. However, one cannot argue state that there is a clear causality between the two, because many factors have affected the abortion policy in both countries.