Category Archives: Activism and Agitation

If I can’t have My Reproductive Rights, then it’s not My Revolution.

Activism and Agitation

The Abortion Rights Campaign Website is Live

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http://www.abortionrightscampaign.ie/

And the Abortion Rights Campaign Website is Live.

Did you ever think you would see the day that there would be a .ie with the term abortion in the site address? I don’t think that even a year ago it would have happened which shows how much has changed. Every time I see the logo with the words ‘Abortion Rights Campaign’ I nearly have to pinch myself to make sure it is real.

When that name was first suggested, it was considered maybe a step to far but then we had the Masters of our maternity hospitals come out and say that Abortions are preformed in this country in their hospitals every year and that too many women are forced abroad due to lack of legal clarity.

We need clear and concise abortion rights and that is what the campaign is about. And the most recent polls have shown us that the majority of Irish people support the right to an abortion for a range of reasons and most of which will not be covered by XCase Legislation, so even after that legislation becomes law there will be still more to do.

But this is the start and having the courage to have the term abortion in the name of the campaign and as the website name, is taboo breaking and wonderful. I am happy to say I support the right to choose, the right to an abortion when needed for medical reasons, the right to an abortion for fatal foetal abnormalities and I am proud to say I am a member of the Abortion Rights Campaign.

Come join us as we work towards securing abortion rights which the majority of people in this country agree with.

http://www.abortionrightscampaign.ie/get-involved/join-the-campaign/

Activism and Agitation

GP-based care must be central to abortion law

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GP-based care must be central to abortion law.

‘How will I find a thousand euro in two weeks?” The mother of three looked at me with a mixture of panic and despair. “We have Communion coming up and absolutely no money as it is . . .”

This woman’s face stays with me. It is the face of many Irish women as they learn the cost of an abortion in England. It is a face injured by the silent bite of austerity, while already coping with a job loss or mortgage default and now an unwanted pregnancy.

Affluent Irish women have always had abortions. They continue to exercise their right to travel. However, for many Irish women the right to travel now counts for very little. It is the feasibility of travel that is important and this is substantially determined by the availability of money.

Desperation, always a feature of Irish abortion, is now the dominant emotion felt by many women. Ask yourself how would you access €1,000 in less than two weeks without telling anyone the reason you needed the money?

The complete absence of any of the voices of the more than 150,000 Irish women who have had abortions was a striking feature of the Oireachtas hearings last month into proposed abortion legislation as a result of the European Court of Human Rights A, B and C ruling. The lack of a public voice obscures the fact that abortion is not a rare experience for Irish women.

I often wonder how many GPs actually do referrals for abortion,
legally they can, but how many actually do, or do they push women towards positive options or the IFPA, but is it know that over 1/3 of women who travel to the UK contact BPAS themselves with out going through services here first.

Activism and Agitation

Rape, Abortion and Emergency Contraceptives

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Last month a poll was released via the Sunday times which showed that 74% of those who took part stated that if a person is pregant from rape they should the right to an abortion, that is an abortion here in Ireland.

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And then we had the interview of Micheál Martin leader of Fine Fáil by http://www.thejournal.ie/ in which he states;

He also said that he would not favour widening legislation or changing the Constitution to include cases where a woman has become pregnant as a result of rape.

“Rape is a particularly difficult one. We do have options today that we didn’t have before in terms of the morning after pill and so forth,” he said.

Which says to me just how disconnected he and his party are on the reality of this issue.

With X Case legislation still not even a published bill after 21 years,
and with all the scaremongering about ‘floodgates’ and women lying about being suicidal to obtain an abortion, I would fear as to what would be said if we were currently trying to legislate for the right to an abortion if a person has been raped.

Would women be told well prove you were raped and to wait for their rapist to be prosecuted, when currently from when a person is charged with rape it could be 18months before the first day in court. I worry that there is a vested interest in trying to make any abortion legislation to be a series of hoops to hard to navigate and so well will continue to have 12 women a day traveling to the U.K.

The comments also show up the ignorance about the ‘morning after pill’ which I really wish we could stop calling it that as the new ones can be taken up to 120 hours later, time to start calling it emergency contraceptive, but even then it is not 100%.

Even if a person reports the rape and sees a dr with in 72 hours or even 120 hours emergency contraceptives are not 100% effective and they can still end up pregnant from that rape.

Which assumes they can get to see a medical professional who will prescribe it, that they can take it as there are women from whom it won’t be prescribed due to medical conditions and there is a barrier due to cost or having to travel or child care, or they could be in an abusive relationship were it’s just not possible for them to get away.

And that is with out going into those who go into shock and denial after they have been raped.

So the existence of emergency contraceptives does not solve the issue of people becoming pregnant after they have been raped.

I guess after all this time I am still staggered by the lack of knowledge out there about Emergency Contraceptives & contraceptives in general. I honestly think that our TDs should know better then the lack of knowledge Micheál Martin has displayed.

Activism and Agitation

Minister Alan Shatter and the absolutely irrefutable evidence

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“Does the Taoiseach intend to introduce legislation in the new year to amend the redress board legislation to extend it to those who suffered barbaric cruelty in the Magdalen laundries?

The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform now has irrefutable evidence that this State and the courts colluded in sending young women to what were then known as the Magdalen asylums. They ended up in the Magdalen laundries and were treated appallingly.Some of them have never recovered from the manner in which they were treated and their lives have been permanently blighted.

Initially in this House the Minister for Education and Science denied that the State had any involvement in this. There is now absolutely irrefutable evidence as a consequence of court records and files that have been examined in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform that the State was directly complicit in many women being placed in these totally inappropriate circumstances.”

So The Department of Justice, Equality, of which he is currently the Minister of has irrefutable evidence, absolutely irrefutable evidence of court records and files that have been examined which his dept has and has examined.

Great any chance of them being released, there Minister?

Activism and Agitation

Magdalene Laundries by Joni Mitchell

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Joni Mitchell put a song about the atrocities committed by the Magdalene Laundries on her 1994 album Turbulent Indigo

Magdalene Laundries
Joni Mitchell

I was an unmarried girl
I’d just turned twenty-seven
When they sent me to the sisters
For the way men looked at me
Branded as a jezebel
I knew I was not bound for Heaven
I’d be cast in shame
Into the Magdalene laundries

Most girls come here pregnant
Some by their own fathers
Bridget got that belly
By her parish priest
We’re trying to get things white as snow
All of us woe-begotten-daughters
In the steaming stains
Of the Magdalene laundries

Prostitutes and destitutes
And temptresses like me–
Fallen women–
Sentenced into dreamless drudgery …
Why do they call this heartless place
Our Lady of Charity?
Oh charity!

These bloodless brides of Jesus
If they had just once glimpsed their groom
Then they’d know, and they’d drop the stones
Concealed behind their rosaries
They wilt the grass they walk upon
They leech the light out of a room
They’d like to drive us down the drain
At the Magdalene laundries

Peg O’Connell died today
She was a cheeky girl
A flirt
They just stuffed her in a hole!
Surely to God you’d think at least some bells should ring!
One day I’m going to die here too
And they’ll plant me in the dirt
Like some lame bulb
That never blooms come any spring
Not any spring
No, not any spring
Not any spring

Activism and Agitation

The X Case: 21 years ago, 2 referendums, 1 supreme court ruling still no Law.

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Last year the Journal.ie did a timeline of the events surrounding the X Case you can find it here: http://www.thejournal.ie/twenty-years-on-a-timeline-of-the-x-case-347359-Feb2012/

Today is the 4th of February 2013, here is what happened 21 years ago:

4 February 1992: The victim and her parents decide to travel to the UK to undergo an abortion. The family informed the Gardaí of their decision and asked whether the foetus could be tested after it was aborted to provide proof of the paternity of the accused in the rape case.

The Gardaí then asked the Director of Public Prosecutions whether such evidence would be admissible in court. The DPP liaised with the Attorney General Harry Whelehan.

The parents of the 14 year old child, were talking her to the UK for the good of her health and life and were trying to make sure the man who had raped her would not go unpunished.

That was 21 years ago and we have had 2 referendums and 1 Supreme court ruling and X Case has not been legislated for and there is still no law.

The current government have legislating for X in their program for government but again we are seeing more delay tactics.

Cabinet update on abortion law delayed | Irish Examiner.

Dr Reilly has said he hopes the measures will become law by July.

Activism and Agitation

10 Myth-Busting Facts About Medical Abortions

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10 Myth-Busting Facts About Medical Abortions.

Eleven years ago, you only had one safe and legal option if you wanted an abortion–a surgical procedure. But in 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finally approved the use of Mifeprex (RU-486) for medical abortions. Since then, nearly 1.4 million women have used the approved medication to terminate unwanted pregnancies. Still, myths and misunderstandings exist about the procedure–so here are some facts about medical (also called medication or non-surgical) abortion:

1. A women in the earliest stage of pregnancy, whose last menstrual period began 49 days ago or less, is eligible for a medical abortion.

2. A medical abortion is a combination of two medications: The pill Mifeprex™ (mifepristone) is taken first, then two days later misoprostol is taken. According to the manufacturer, Danco Laboratories, Mifeprex™ blocks the hormone progesterone so that the pregnancy cannot continue, the lining of the uterus softens and breaks down, and bleeding begins. Misoprostol (a prostaglandin) causes the uterus to contract and push the embryo out of the uterus.

3. About 95 percent to 98 percent of women who use mifepristone/misoprostol will have a complete abortionl. For the remaining 2-5 percent who are either still pregnant, have an incomplete abortion, or have excessive bleeding, a suction procedure is required.

4. There is a three step regimen for a medical abortion. The first two are taking the pills; Step Three, two weeks later, is an examination to confirm that the abortion is complete. If it is not, more time may be needed or a surgical abortion should be scheduled.

5. Some women prefer surgical abortions. While safe, a medical abortion is not a day at the beach–there is bleeding, often heavier than a menstrual period, and other side effects that can be more difficult than a surgical procedure. Some women experience gastrointestinal discomfort (cramps, nausea and diarrhea) and dizziness, weakness, chills and headaches. However, most women who have had medical abortions feel it was a good choice for them because it affords them privacy and they are able to terminate the pregnancy in the earliest stages.

6. Medical abortion is safer than pregnancy. Tragically, an average of more than two women die every day in the U.S. from pregnancy-related causes such as inadequate or non-existent prenatal care, according to a new report from Amnesty International [PDF]. Between 2000 and 2006, maternal deaths occurred in 6.5 per 100,000 pregnancies in the U.S [PDF]. In comparison, while 1.4 million women in the U.S. have chosen the medical abortion path since 2000, just eight women have died from sepsis, an inflammatory response to a bloodstream infection, after taking the pill. That’s about 1 in 168,000, comparable to the rate for early surgical abortion and miscarriage.

7. Medical abortion has been safely used by millions of women around the world. In the early 1990’s, the United Kingdom and Sweden approved its use, and it has been employed in France and China since 1988. It’s now licensed for use in 37 countries. However, the radical anti-choice lobby prevented the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from allowing it to be used in this country until the final months of President Clinton’s administration in September 2000.

8. A medical abortion is not the same as emergency contraception, which is often referred to as the morning-after pill or Plan B. Emergency contraception prevents pregnancy and can work for up to five days after unprotected sex; medical abortion terminates an early pregnancy.

9. Many abortion providers have started offering women the choice of a medical abortion, and some doctors and clinics that never provided surgical abortions now offer medical abortion services. This is good news for women. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer doctors are receiving training in surgical abortion procedures because medical schools aren’t teaching it, students aren’t asking for it and the anti-choice forces have scared many potential providers away. Until this changes, medical abortion at least opens up some opportunities for women where there were none before.

10. Doctors who provide reproductive health care should be willing to administer medical abortions. Does yours?

Activism and Agitation

Snake Dreams

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The wake of the new year brought with it bouts of insomnia and then finally as the skies were graced with the first new moon of the year my sleeping pattern settled down and I began to have Snake dreams.

It’s not the first time I’ve had snake dreams, the last time was in the run up to my Saturn’s return and boy did my life get interesting. That time it was more to do with Kundalini energies and swallowing snakes.

This time I was having dreams of shedding my skin and being more ‘me’ afterwards and
my colours and attributes being clearer. The snake is said to be a symbol of transformation and healing, and well the two weeks after the dreams started have certainly started down that path.

Oddly enough this Chinese new year, which is the 10th of febuary, is that of the Snake, so maybe this will be a year of transformation and healing for me.
I also found this under my bed when I was tidying.

It was a present from a friend long ago and I think I will keep him on my desk to remind me to keep active and doing the things I need to over the year to come.

Activism and Agitation

My Abortion Activism

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My abortion activism goes back about two decades at this stage, I used to write the Women’s Information Network’s illegal abortion information phone number 01 6794700 on the blackboards of the 6th year classrooms early in the mornings before anyone else was in.

Needless to say this caused uproar in the convent school I attended: when teachers and the head nun had an inkling it was me I was told to present myself at the office when I arrived each morning. They were going to use the absence of the number to prove it was me and someone else started chalking it on the black boards and it started to appear on the cubicle walls in the toilets in the school.

This was back before the 1992 referendum which made information related to abortion legal. I grew up in an Ireland were magazines were censored and so were UK phone books all over the country, long before it was possible to look up information on the internet. I have been pro choice having seen what family members went through in an Ireland which didn’t talk about miscarriage and treated unmarried mothers badly.

Even after the 1992 while information wasn’t censored, only drs and counselors were to give information to women who were looking for it and that is still the case to day. Before anyone could google B.P.A.S. and get information giving information verbally or a booklet or a photocopy could get you into legal hot water.

When I went to college I got even more involved in pro choice activism, I continued to act as an information point for women*. I had gotten my hands on a bunch of booklets “Traveling to Liverpool: a guide for Irish women” which were produced in 1994 and some activist training and would use them to help women, from teenagers to women in their 40s who didn’t know were to go, were too far away from the I.F.P.A. clinics and so would try their luck with the local college.

This was often a risky adventure, there were those in the college esp the college nurse who opposed me doing this, she was involved with the local Cura Branch and I had heard of other people who were giving out information that they would try and record me. If I wasn’t sure I would arrange to meet people and then accidentally leave behind pages with info on them after saying I could not help.

I also traveled with women over the years and if I didn’t travel with them checked in with them after wards, to make sure they took it easy, so many students who lived away from home during the week would travel and come back to digs or rented house and needed someone to make them tea and listen.

I remember the name of every person I helped back then and when they traveled and some for years later I would get a card or mostly an email to the address I had back then to say thank you or just to have someone who knew to communicate with. So many women edit out that time in their life from their narrative. They box it off don’t think about it, don’t talk about it ever, to anyone and go on to have partners and start families and it’s never mentioned. Not even when dealing with medical professionals in maternity hospitals.

Even after college it didn’t stop, I left an email address with certain people and they would refer people on but soon it was possible to search for information on the internet, but I still ended up being a point of contact and information and the same when I got involved in online communities, way before even bebo. Even in those places when I would talk about the topic in general women would contact me privately to share their stories.

My abortion activism has always been part of my sex education, contraception and Choice activism. I have passed on information on adoption and supports for being a single parent as well over the years but when there were so few places to get abortion information and support most of my first contact encounters over the year have been about abortion.

So many women over the years have shared their stories with me, easily close to 100,
but they would only be `not even .1 % of the 150,000 Irish women we have stats on who have traveled to the UK.

These days there is more information and support but hopefully the day will come when we don’t have to travel.

* I use the term women in my post not to be exclusionary, but as I have not yet knowingly had a transman talk to me about their story or approach me for information.

Helpful links if you need them.

www.ifpa.ie
www.positiveoptions.ie
www.bpas.ie
www.mariestopes.org.uk
www.abortionsupport.org.uk