‘I had no real interest in politics, until this’ – Ireland’s accidental abortion activists

‘I had no real interest in politics, until this’ – Ireland’s accidental abortion activists
On 25 May, voters in Ireland will decide whether to legalise abortion. Doctors, grandparents and those who have been forced to travel the UK to seek terminations have been raising their voices in a bid to shift the narrative

Joyce Fegan
Tue 22 May 2018

In September 1983, article 40.3.3 – the eighth amendment – was voted into the Irish constitution. It equated the life of the “unborn” with that of the mother. It gave rise to a ban on abortion in all circumstances from the moment of conception.

It also led to a grave national silence, whereby abortion was outsourced to neighbouring jurisdictions, with Britain becoming a place of medical refuge for at least 168,703 Irish women.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/22/ireland-abortion-vote-accidental-activists-eighth-amendment

From Linda Kavanagh to Tracy Harkin: A guide to who’s who in Ireland’s divisive abortion debate

From Linda Kavanagh to Tracy Harkin: A guide to who's who in Ireland's divisive abortion debate
With Ireland's landmark referendum on the Eighth Amendment looming, voices on both sides of the abortion debate are getting louder. But who exactly is lining out?

John Meagher
February 4 2018

It has been a momentous week for campaigners on both sides of the great abortion debate as it was finally confirmed that a referendum would be held this summer. Friday, May 25, is thought to be the most likely day for the referendum, one that pro-choice supporters hope will forever lift the ban on abortion.

But despite a series of opinion polls that indicate that the majority of the country wants change, the pro-life side believes a large cohort of people opposed to abortion have not had their voices heard.

Continued: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/abortion-referendum/from-linda-kavanagh-to-tracy-harkin-a-guide-to-whos-who-in-irelands-divisive-abortion-debate-36558195.html

We can topple Ireland’s ludicrous abortion law, but it’s not a done deal

We can topple Ireland’s ludicrous abortion law, but it’s not a done deal
The referendum to ‘repeal the 8th’ is a reward for brave campaigning by Irish women. But unlike the same-sex marriage vote, we face huge political hostility

Emer O'Toole
Wednesday 27 September 2017 14.17

It is 34 years since the Irish people voted to amend the constitution to designate the right to life of the “unborn” as equal to that of a pregnant woman, effectively banning abortion. And for 34 years Irish feminists and their allies have been campaigning to end the shame and suffering that have been the fruits of our holy eighth amendment.

In 2011 the Abortion Rights Campaign organised its first annual March for Choice in Dublin. The police told the media that only 500 people had attended, a figure easily contradicted by video evidence. The national press barely blinked at us. The following year the then taoiseach, Enda Kenny, told Time magazine that abortion was “not of priority” for his government. We were not on the radar.

Continued at source: The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/27/ireland-abortion-referendum-not-done-deal-repeal-the-8th-political-hostility

How a pro-choice movement in Ireland is changing the way women campaign for their reproductive rights

Wear your heart on your chest. (Repeal)

Written by Carey Dunne. Quartz
September 07, 2016

When Fia Kavanagh was 17, about to graduate from school in a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, she discovered that she was pregnant. Her college entrance exams were two weeks away, and she had just broken up with her boyfriend of several years. “I knew I couldn’t give a child the life I’d want it to have,” Kavanagh says. “Two parents, brothers and sisters, a home.”

But Kavanagh didn’t have the options available to many other teenagers with unplanned pregnancies. Ireland still has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. It’s the only country in Europe besides Malta in which abortion is illegal, except when the procedure is necessary to save a woman’s life. Even in cases of pregnancy as a result of rape or incest, abortion can be punished by up to 14 years in prison.

[continued at link]
Source: Quartz

07.09.2016