‘Savita!’: why the Irish abortion vote touched women the world over

'Savita!': why the Irish abortion vote touched women the world over

Finally, a woman’s death at the hands of an old madness did not mean nothing

Van Badham
Wed 30 May 2018

The photograph from the Irish referendum that brought me undone was of white-haired men in the street holding a yellow banner. It read “Grandfathers for Yes”. It came across my phone as I traversed Melbourne in the 86 tram only a couple of days before the vote, like a lobbed bomb of hope and love, relief and change. I sobbed aloud.

It struck with specific weight because there’d been another photo circulating a week earlier of Irish men the same age in a sadly more familiar scenario. “Vote NO” read their own pink signs, “Support women, protect babies, save lives.” That one had left me not in hot tears but a cold rage.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/30/savita-why-the-irish-abortion-vote-touched-women-the-world-over