“My religious beliefs are just that: my own. I do not seek to impose them on anybody else.”
8th Amendment cartoon from the latest Double Vision column by Charlie Adley. I’m a signatory to the Artists’ Campaign to Repeal the 8th and I’m happy to be able to address it in this 8th Amendment cartoon. You could take your pick of the hypocritical “arguments” of the anti-choice lobby and stick them in this cartoon (and in fact I might). We can’t keep sticking our heads in the sand about abortion.
Irish women and women who live in Ireland have abortions. An average of 12 a day.
Abortions are happening in Ireland, albeit under highly restricted circumstances.
You know someone who’s had an abortion. You do. How does it make you feel to think of them travelling, most probably in secret and alone, unable to receive proper care in Ireland?
Medical professionals do not have legal certainty under the 8th.
The constitution is no place for specific medical prohibitions. Even is you’re against abortion in every circumstance you must consider that legislation is a better way to govern healthcare. There have been too many cases where the 8th has caused suffering and harm to families.
Abortion is a reality of Irish life and it’s time we grew up and faced it. We can’t continue to export women in crisis pregnancies to the UK and pretend it’s not happening. We’ve had 35 years of that. If we want to prevent abortion we need better sex education, cheaper (or free!) contraception, and consent classes. After that we need to mind our own business. It’s simply immoral to treat women as incubators because you somehow feel they can’t be trusted with their own bodies. Repeal the 8th.
Resources:
Referendum Commission
Together for Yes (National Civil Society Campaign to remove the Eighth Amendment from the Constitution)
Doctors for Choice
Terminations for Medical Reasons (Resources and testimony from families affected by FFA diagnoses)
Lawyers for Choice
Abortion Rights Campaign
About The 8th (Providing Information about the 8th Amendment and proposed abortion law reform in Ireland)
Amnesty International Report on Impact of Ireland’s Abortion Law
Artists’ Campaign to Repeal the 8th Amendment