Dublin city centre came to a halt Saturday 26th September as thousands of people marched for choice and against Ireland’s anti-women law that would jail people who access abortion here for up to 14 years.
The key demand is to Repeal the 8th Amendment which was passed at the height of clerical control back in 1983. So long ago that nobody who voted on it would now be in a position to even become pregnant. More that 2/3rd of the population want abortion to be decriminalised, only 25% want the current criminalisation to remain yet Enda Kenny has announced he has no intention of introducing a referendum to Repeal the 8th.
Dublin city centre came to a halt Saturday 26th September as thousands of people marched for choice and against Ireland’s anti-women law that would jail people who access abortion here for up to 14 years.
The key demand is to Repeal the 8th Amendment which was passed at the height of clerical control back in 1983. So long ago that nobody who voted on it would now be in a position to even become pregnant. More that 2/3rd of the population want abortion to be decriminalised, only 25% want the current criminalisation to remain yet Enda Kenny has announced he has no intention of introducing a referendum to Repeal the 8th.
In the meantime 12 people a day have to travel to the UK for beyond to access abortion while an unknown number risk a prison sentence by ordering abortion pills off the internet and self-administering at home in Ireland. A women in the north which has similar laws is being prosecuted for supplying the pills to her own daughter.
It might suit Kenny’s electoral interest’s to allow this deplorable situation to continue but there are real consequences of that calculation every day as people make what is often an expensive and difficult journey to access medical care they should be able to access here.
Our video report from the march
Tara Flynn on telling her abortion story
Maria Clarke of the Abortion Support Network
Anne Hoey of the Union of Students in Ireland
Mandy La Combre from the Trade Union Campaign to Repeal the 8th
Speaking of IMELDA
Colm O’Gorman
Clare Daly
Valerie Molay
Sinead Redmond of AIMS Ireland
Mary Favier speaks for Doctors for Choice
Emma Campbell of Alliance for Choice
Justine Murphy of the Abortion Rights Campaign
WORDS & VIDEO: Andrew Flood (Follow Andrew on Twitter )