Tens of thousands of people turned out in Dublin on Saturday for Ireland's sixth annual March for Choice. Organized by Abortion Rights Campaign, the protest snakes across the capital city each year in pursuit of bodily autonomy for every uterus owner in Ireland.Since 1983 and the insertion of the Eighth Amendment to our constitution, the people of Ireland have lived in the shadow of one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. On face value, the amendment simply asserts the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn. In practice, it has meant that virtually all abortion has been prohibited on our island for over three decades.
Advertisement
The far-reaching implications of the amendment have manifested in such international scandals as the death of Savita Halappanavar. Subsequent amendments have been introduced over the decades to mitigate the suffocating effects of the Eighth—women are allowed to travel outside the state for abortions, and abortions can be performed if there is a risk to the woman's life as a result of pregnancy.Driven from Irish shores, 12 women leave Ireland every day to procure abortion services abroad. Finally, after decades of campaigning, the Irish government announced only five days earlier that a referendum on the repeal of the Eighth Amendment will be held in May or June of 2018.
This year's March for Choice takes place on the tail end of three decades of lobbying, and with the knowledge of the now imminent referendum. The atmosphere of the protest was jubilant but determined, and its participants proud but not complacent. They know that this year's March—if the referendum swings their way next summer—might be the last they ever attend.Read more: Does Ireland Think Abortion Is Worse Than Heroin?
Sruthi Jose,19, Sarah Walsh, 19, Elizabeth Murdoch, 18, Blanaid Smith, 18, students
Sarah Walsh: I'm here for the wellbeing of me, my friends, my family, the generation to come - my children if I have them—we need to have the choice.
Elizabeth Murdoch: I believe that I should have a choice over what happens to my body and I don't believe that anyone else should make that decision for me.
Blanaid Smith: We have incredibly restrictive abortion laws in Ireland and they're killing women throughout the country. It's just unacceptable.
Advertisement
Trisha Cusack, 20, Sara Loughlin, 20, Lisa Murray, 20, students
Sara Loughlin: I want people to have the choice to do whatever they want to do with their own bodies.
Lute Alraad and Deirdre McGing, Time Travelers for Choice members
Deirdre McGing: We set up Time Travelers for Choice because of Ireland's archaic laws. Everyone's looking at the way we're dressed—we're out of place and out of time. People need to look at Ireland's archaic abortion laws and realize that maybe they're out of place too.
Sadie Monks, 45
Advertisement
Bill Walsh, 19, Ciara Hamilton, 21, students
Bill Walsh: It's a national embarrassment. We want to think of ourselves as a modern country but we still have this archaic barrier in place. We're actually more restrictive than Saudi Arabia when it comes to abortion. It's disgraceful.
Jane Xavier, 38, Migrants and Ethnic Minorities for Reproductive Justice member
In 2015, the Maternal Death Inquiry Report said that 40 percent of maternal deaths in Ireland were migrant women. The Eighth Amendment discriminates against migrant women because they can't travel to the UK for abortions—some of them may be undocumented, be stuck in direct provision, or have to arrange visas. We face more obstacles to access abortion. The eighth amendment needs to be repealed for every woman in Ireland.
Advertisement
Ebun Black, 25 and Ashleigh Easton, 30
Ashleigh Easton: I'm Australian, I've only been here for 24 hours, I'm here for Ebun's birthday. She told me the march was happening today and we came along. It's absolutely fucking ridiculous that in Ireland today you need to go to another country or do something really dangerous to have an abortion. It's so important for women's health and society as a whole that we're able to make these kinds of decisions for ourselves.
Cliona Kelly and Marian Farrelly, Parents for Choice members
Marian Farrelly: I think Parents for Choice are really important. We need to bust the myths around what kind of people have abortions. We need to get it out there that over 50 percent of people who have abortions are parents already. It's not something people go into blindly. These are decisions made by families who need to keep the best interests of the children they already have at heart.