Thousands of Irish protestors took to the streets of Dublin on Saturday to call for a referendum on women’s abortion rights.
At the moment, under an Irish law known as the 8th amendment, a foetus, from the moment the sperm hits the egg, is an Irish citizen, and cannot be aborted, even in cases of incest or rape.
Following on from the success of the gay marriage referendum, which basically signaled that Ireland is ready to change and maybe go against what its Catholic tradition would command, there’s hope from the Abortion Rights Alliance that there could be an abortion referendum after the next general election.
‘Political parties can’t hold off on a referendum for fear that a conversation needs to happen beforehand,’ Claire Brophy, spokesperson for the Abortion Rights Campaign told The Guardian: ‘It will happen when people know a referendum is coming, as happened with marriage equality.’
The #MarchForChoice comes 48 years after the Abortion Act made it legal for British women to get a termination, and feelings about that could be summed up with one sign:
Irish laws are currently so stifling that women have been travelling to Liverpool to get abortions there for decades; an estimated 3,500 made the journey last year. Other women are believed to seek dangerous back street abortions.
One horrific story saw an asylum seeker, who’d been raped in her native country, refused an abortion by the Irish health service. This was despite claiming to be suicidal over the pregnancy. She attempted to make the crossing to Liverpool to get an abortion, but was arrested and deported back to Ireland. She was forced to go ahead with the pregnancy and the baby was delivered by caesarean section. Her legal team is suing the Irish government.
Like this? You might also be interested in:
Sex Chat, Pregnancy And Religion: The Complications Of Being A 20-Something Woman In Ireland Today
A Young Woman In Ireland Was Denied An Abortion And Forced To Undergo A C-Section At 25 Weeks
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.