‘Wrap our arms around them here in Ireland’: Social media campaigns in the Irish abortion referendum

Abstract

The 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which codified a near-absolute ban on abortion in Ireland, was ratified in 1983 and removed after a high profile campaign to ‘Repeal the 8th’ in 2018. This article analyses the language of the pro-choice group Together for Yes and the anti-choice groups Love Both and Pro-Life Ireland that campaigned to ‘Save the 8th’. We combine an application of the Appraisal framework with an account of conceptual metaphor in a Critical Discourse Analysis of the language of both campaigns on the social network platform Twitter. Both sides of the ‘Repeal Referendum’ strategically utilised language across a wide range of semiotic modes. This article assesses the specific role of social media language in the Irish abortion referendum and connects these strategies to the wider campaign tactics of both sides.

Does Social Media Use Matter? A Case Study of the 2018 Irish Abortion Referendum

“…The anti-abortion campaign ("No") focused on the idea that the proposed changes would result in "extreme abortion on demand." It also touched on nativist tendencies and suggested that the new system would be "too British" (Statham & Ringrow, 2022). However, on social media, it refrained from the use of graphic images of foetuses that did appear in some campaign literature.…”