Today, contraceptives are widely available in pharmacies and supermarkets across Ireland. Our own Students’ Union hand them out to whoever needs them. However, this was not always the case. Contraception was strictly banned in the Republic of Ireland from 1935 until it was gradually liberalised, with full legalisation arriving in 1993.
In Northern Ireland, contraception was legal but heavily restricted. The ban reflected the influence of Catholic teachings on sexual morality, as seen in the 1937 Irish Constitution, drafted by Éamon de Valera under the guidance of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid.
A defining moment in the Irish second-wave feminist movement occurred on May 22, 1971, when 47 members of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement (IWLM) boarded a train from Dublin’s Connolly Station to Belfast. There, they purchased various contraceptives, openly challenging the Republic’s ban by smuggling them back across the border. This act of defiance became known as the ‘Contraceptive Train’ and marked a turning point in the fight for reproductive rights in Ireland.
For much of the 20th century, women in Ireland faced systemic discrimination from both the state and the Catholic Church. In the 1920s, birth control was described as “race suicide,” and by the 1970s, women’s reproductive rights were still tightly controlled.
The Irish Constitution states that “by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.” The 1935 Criminal Law Amendment Act made the sale and importation of contraceptives illegal. Married women were expected to have large families, and those who had children outside of marriage were often institutionalised in Magdalene Laundries.
Misinformation about contraception was widespread. Some women resorted to dangerous methods to prevent pregnancy. In one case from the late 1940s, a woman gave birth to a baby with a Guinness bottle top embedded in its head after attempting to use it as a contraceptive.
In the first edition of the Irish language novel Peig, about storyteller Peig Sayers from the Blasket Islands in Kerry, Sayers described how many women on the island controlled the number of children they produced by creating a cervical cap by moulding beeswax. There was also evidence of the Blasket women using herbs and the bark from a Juniper tree to instigate early miscarriages.
St Brigid, Ireland’s matron saint, was renowned for her devotion and dedication to female fertility. She once met a girl who was severely distressed because she was pregnant. Brigid prayed, then blessed the woman, laid her hands upon the girl’s womb and the foetus miraculously disappeared.
The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) was established in 1969 and began providing information on contraception despite the legal ban. In 1970, students’ unions and family planning clinics started distributing condoms illegally by offering them as ‘gifts’ in exchange for donations.
The IWLM was founded in 1970 in Dublin’s Bewley’s Café and became a central force in the feminist movement. Key members included Nell McCafferty, Mary Kenny, Nuala O’Faolain, and June Levine. Their manifesto, Chains or Change, outlined six demands:
- Equal rights in law
- Equal pay and the removal of the marriage bar
- Justice for widows and single mothers
- Equal educational opportunities
- The right to contraception
- Access to housing for all families
At the time, abortion and divorce were considered too taboo to be openly discussed.
The Contraceptive Train protest
On May 22, 1971, IWLM members travelled to Belfast to purchase condoms and spermicide. Because the contraceptive pill required a prescription, they bought aspirin instead, reasoning that customs officers wouldn’t know the difference. Upon returning to Dublin, the women publicly declared what they had purchased and refused to surrender their items. Embarrassed customs officials declined to arrest them. The protest attracted widespread media attention and sparked national debate.
The Contraceptive Train was a catalyst for legal change. In 1979, the Health (Family Planning) Bill permitted married couples to access contraception with a prescription. Over the following decades, restrictions eased further:
- 1993: All restrictions on contraception sales were lifted.
- 2011: Emergency contraception became available without a prescription.
- 2018: The Eighth Amendment, which banned abortion, was repealed by referendum, allowing for the legalisation of abortion.
Figures such as Nell McCafferty, who passed away in 2024, played a crucial role in securing these rights. Her legacy, alongside other pioneering feminists, endures in the continued fight for gender equality.
The women who participated in the Contraceptive Train risked arrest to challenge the oppressive legal system of 1970s Ireland. Their actions laid the groundwork for Ireland’s transformation into a more liberal society. Today, reproductive rights (including free access to contraception for women ages 17-35 and abortion) are recognised as fundamental. The courage of these activists ensured that future generations of Irish women could have autonomy over their own bodies.
Emma van Oosterhout
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Emma van Oosterhout is the Editor in Chief of Student Independent News for 2025. She is a final year Global Media and History student at University of Galway. She is from Corofin, Co. Galway. Emma was previously a News Editor for the year 2023/24. Emma has written for SIN since 2023.
