Tag Archives: prochoice

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Draft General Scheme of the Protection of Maternal Life Bill 2013

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Draft General Scheme of the Protection of Maternal Life Bill 2013

Risk of loss of life from self-destruction

Provide that

1. A person shall not be guilty of an offense under….when a medical procedure referred to in… is carried out by a register medical practitioner

at an appropriate location at which mental health services are also provided and in relation to such mental health services at least one of the psychiatrists referred in this head is employed.

one obstetrician and two psychiatrists have jointly certified that in their reasonable opinion

there is a real and substantial risk of loss of the pregnant woman’s life from self-destruction and this risk can only be averted by medical procedure in the course of which or as a result of which unborn human life is destroyed.

one obstetrician and two psychiatrists have revived the opinion referred to… and certified that they are of the same opinion.

2 At least one of the psychiatrists refereed to in… shall be a perinatal psychiatrist.

Thank you to @curtainqueen for her screen shots which enabled me to type up the draft bill from #vinb.

1+2+1+2= 6.

And after the Minister for Health only on Monday denied that women would have to face 6 drs.

It is unworkable and the College of Psychiatrics of Ireland stated they would not take part in such compulsory assessments.

This is farcical and I can’t see any Dr wanting to put a person who is in such dire mental health through such a process. If you think this is absurd then I urge you to contact your TDs on this issue. The Abortion Rights Campgain have a draft letter you can use which you can find here: http://www.abortionrightscampaign.ie/2013/04/22/suicidal-women-should-have-to-see-no-more-that-two-doctors/

Activism and Agitation

Police launch probe after 100 women admit taking or buying abortion pills

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Police launch probe after 100 women admit taking or buying abortion pills.

The PSNI said it is examining the open letter, signed by more than 100 people, which was published by Alliance for Choice.

The signatories provided their name and location for the document – which lists people who have taken the abortion pill or helped women here to procure it.

The 1861 Offences against the Person Act, which carries a life sentence, makes it illegal to procure drugs to cause an abortion.

Abortion is currently illegal in Northern Ireland unless a woman’s life is at risk or there is a risk of permanent and serious damage to her health.

A PSNI spokeswoman on Sunday confirmed that police are “assessing” the contents of the letter.

Activism and Agitation

The Brave 100 and counting…

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Sunday the 10th of March the news broke that 100 people had put their names to a letter stating they had broken the law in Northen Ireland, either by getting and taking abortion pills or assisting in a woman getting them.

So far the Crown prosecution has seemed reluctant to pursue such cases and to not bring the law under public scrutiny but with the moves made last week to make it illegal for the Marie Stopes clinic or indeed any private clinic to offer abortions in the 6 counties, this wonderful action has happened.

This tactic of people coming forward has happened before in other countries were it was illegal to have an abortion. It happened first in France Le Nouvel Observateur on April 5, 1971 published the Manifesto of the 343 (as 343 women signed it), which was written by Simone de Beauvoir and stated.

One million women in France have an abortion every year.
Condemned to secrecy, they have them in dangerous conditions when this procedure, performed under medical supervision, is one of the simplest.
These women are veiled in silence.
I declare that I am one of them. I have had an abortion.
Just as we demand free access to birth control, we demand the freedom to have an abortion.

Two months later Stern Magazine which was based in Hamburg in what was then in West Germany ran it’s cover with images of women and the title on the front page was “Wir haben abgetrieben” “We have aborted” it had the stories of 374 women.

A year later in 1972 the first issue of Ms. magazine carried an “We Have Had Abortions,” statement signed by 50 women, who asked for people to join them in
a “campaign for honesty and freedom”.

And finally 40 years later we have a statement from women who live on the Island of Ireland stating they have broke the law and had an abortion and those who have helped them do it.

Names are still being added

We salute these brave men and women who may face legal sanctions, but who have decided to come forward and end their silence to help break the taboo and normalise abortion in the North of Ireland and to call for services needed by women.

Activism and Agitation

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

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This appeared in my social media feeds over the last week, I’ve tried to track down who’s work it is, as it is a wonderful piece. If you know, do let me know.

It succinctly makes the point about single mother’s which I mentioned in my piece about The Snapper and Ireland’s attitudes to “unmarried mothers” and unplanned pregnancy..

Activism and Agitation

Connecting with Pro Choice people on the Streets of Dublin

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Last Saturday the 2nd of March as part of the 10 days of Action which is part of the
Abortion Rights Campaign I was doing my bit by taking to the streets to help run a stall and hand out leaflets.

Basic street politics, and I must admit it has been a while from when I last did that sort of activity, I’ve had a busy few months taking part in meetings,photo ops, rallies and marches but I hadn’t stood handing leaflets.

Specifically these leaflets for the Action on X rally

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So I was a little apprehensive about doing thing and what reaction I may get and then I watched Amanda Palmer’s Ted talk. In which she talks about connecting with people and part of the talk was about her 5 years of being a living statue and connecting with strangers on the streets and how it was about eye contact.

You can watch it here if your interested. http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.html

So get out to hand out leaflets and make connections with people, I’ve found it easier to be upbeat when you have some theme music for the day, mine was baby elephant walk which always makes me smile, so with a song in my heart and a smile on my face I was ready to reach out to people.

I stood at the underpass of the Central Bank as people passed through heading to Dame St or Temple bar, it was a busy enough afternoon. I held up my stack of leaflets in one hand so people could read them as they pass and offered one for them to take with the other. Some people didn’t take one but read what I was holding in passing.

I had one group of American tourists tell me I was going to hell, but 7 other American tourists over the two hours I was there told me to keep up the good work. I had some parents steer their children away from me and some quietly take a leaflet form when where they kids had passed me by.

We all have our preconceptions about who is interested in abortion rights, but I had has many young men take leaflets as young women and they were more inclined to stop and talk.

I had one old man admonish me for handing out the leaflet stopping to block me from people passing by and tapping my hand down which was handing out leaflets, while saying “You do know abortion is murder, dear” I told him I disagreed and went to hand out leaflets again and again he tapped my hand down, like I was a naughty child saying ” But dear women who have abortions are murderers” I told him that if he touched me again I would consider it assault and that calling me a murderer was slander. He walked on telling me I was going to hell.

I had several older women talk leaflet and stop to talk to me. One asked me quite bluntly “is this about Abortion” not being sure how the exchange would go I explained the rally is to get X Case legislation in place, as it has been over 20 years and we still don’t have legislation. “Good” She replied and asked were we working for more rights as those who have been raped should have the right to an abortion, I was happy to tell her that yes the Abortion Rights Campaign is working towards securing that right for those who need it.

I had another older woman take the leaflet, stand reading it and say ” Tomorrow is it?” I replied yes “Great, I don’t do the internet thing, but I will let my girls know, can I have some more of those?” So I handed her 5 more leaflets.

Over all I had mostly positive encounters with people smiling, giving me a thumbs up or waving a leaflet they had gotten from one of the volunteers, so the next time I take to the pavements it will be with a lot less trepidation as I did feel that the majority of people I encountered were pro choice bearing out the recent polls.

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

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.

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Another XCase Date, 21 years on and still no legislation.

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http://www.thejournal.ie/twenty-years-on-a-timeline-of-the-x-case-347359-Feb2012/

6 February 1992: X and her parents traveled to England and arrangements were made for an abortion to take place in London. On the same date, the Attorney General obtained an interim injunction stopping the teenager and her parents from leaving the country or arranging the termination of the pregnancy. Once they were informed of the injunction the family returned to Ireland.

The AG’s order was based on Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution, more specifically on the 1983 amendment that puts the right of the unborn child’s right to life on an equal footing of the mother’s right to life.

Whelen has since said that he had no choice but to seek the injunction as he had a duty to uphold the Constitution. He told an RTÉ documentary that his problem was “stark” after being contacted by the DPP.

This weeks has been filled so far with the abuses of women and children by the state and the church, be it children in industrial schools, children abused by priests, children put up for adoption who can not never find out their parent’s names, women put into laundries and used as slave labour or women driven abroad to have children and to have them adopted.

We have had 90 year of being our own country and honestly it seems to be little more then a litany of abusing and ignoring those who need compassion and care.

We still have people who are being mistreated in asylum holding places, old people’s homes, children’s care homes, and those in care due to disabilities.

In all my born days, despite the struggles watching the Dáil proceedings today, for the first time I find myself wanting to live in a different country.

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Got any stories about those awful fetus feet pins?

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I first saw them back in 1992 but they were in use as propaganda tools from 1979.

An exhibition about them and the type of progaganda the ‘pro life’ side has used over the years is going to take place shortly in he Copper House Gallery and they are still looking for contributions.

I’ve sent mine in, we do need a way to record our stories and to share them and this is a wonderful way to do so and ‘Make good art”.

http://www.10weeks.org/10-weeks-exhibition/

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We’re looking for help to publicise two pro choice exhibitions please & help us collect stories and responses.

The written responses will be showcased within the exhibition and archived on this website whilst the recorded vocal responses will be accessible during the exhibition and on this website archive afterwards.

The written responses will be showcased within the exhibition and archived on this website whilst the recorded vocal responses will be accessible during the exhibition and on this website archive afterwards.

http://www.10weeks.org/10-weeks-exhibition/