Abortion Movies I Want To See (repost)

Abortion may be illegal and unconstitutional ’round these parts, but it’s also an everyday thing that around one in three women (and other people with uteri) will do in their lives. I want to see it portrayed like that in movies. A part of life, nothing more or less. Abortion movies, movies with abortion as a plot point- never the same, because our lives aren’t ever the same. But always ordinary.

I had some suggestions:

UNDERCOVER ABORTIONISTS

Think 007, only better. Reproductive rights-ier.

Operating outside the law in a land where tyrannical governments ban the most basic healthcare (so we have tons of choices for where to film it), this band of suave, skilled medical professionals do what nobody else dares. Pursued by government officials on one side and anti-choice activists on the other, they risk imprisonment from one and being gunned down at any moment from the other. But they let nothing get in between them and doing what they know is right. Anonymous and unrecognised, they won’t stop until nobody is forced to keep a pregnancy against their will.

Will they manage to stay one step ahead of their pursuers? Will everyone make it out alive?

Come for the repro rights. Stay for the EXPLOSIONS and CAR CHASES and CLEVER DISGUISES and CODEWORDS.

and:

THE ROM COM

The Main Character meets the love of their life while they’re sitting awkwardly in the waiting room. They hit it off and bond over their Favourite Classic TV Show on Love Interest’s tiny phone. The exchange phone numbers and hit it off so well they start spending oodles of time together, sparks flying all over the place (maybe one of them is a mechanic). Everything is going marvellously until Protagonist’s Terrible Ex shows up, or Love Interest drastically misinterprets something Protagonist said. Will they get past the Obstacle and realise that the other is the One For Them? Of course they will!

And of course:

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, NO WAY AM I HAVING A BABY

A few days after Protagonist finds out that she’s pregnant, the Apocalypse strikes. Waking up into a world infested with the undead/destroyed by asteroids/taken over by aliens, she knows that she’ll have to do everything she can to survive. And she’ll have to get out of town. On her way, she stops by a shopping mall and grabs all the canned/dried food she can, a bunch of tools and supplies- and a small packet of pills. No way is she bringing a baby into this world- and besides, who can fight off the undead hordes with morning sickness?! Her trolley full, she is on her way out when the building starts to collapse/she’s spotted by the a troop of robot soldiers. Will she make it out alive? Who will she meet along the way? Will she find somewhere she can hole up for a few days while the pills do their magic? And how will the human race survive?

And of course, even more over on the original post. What abortion movies do you want someone to make?

Abortion Movies I Want To See (repost)
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Big Damn Abortion Heroes in Ireland: Part Two

I’ve talked a lot recently about people getting in the way of access to abortion in Ireland. The women who ratted their housemate out to the police because she wasn’t sorry enough about her abortion. I’ve gotten deeply snarky about people who make mind-bogglingly ignorant arguments against pregnant people’s right to choose.

I have’t talked that much about the other side: the people who speak up. Those who tell their stories. People who risk arrest and villification to choose their own path or to support others’ choices. The big damn abortion heroes of our time.

As there are a lot of people to share, this post is split this into three parts. Part One is here.

Telling it like it is

It’s illegal to import or take abortion pills. Nevertheless, people do it every day. While it’s legal to leave the country for an abortion, until recently it’s been considered such a shameful thing to do that most women went through the whole process in secret.

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 To share that you’ve had an abortion has been taboo- despite the fact that more than 150,000 people are recorded as having gone to the UK for terminations since it was made unconstitutional in 1983. I shouldn’t have to say this, but: that figure of 150,000 is almost certainly far smaller than the true figures. It doesn’t include anyone who bought abortion pills online since they’ve become available, anyone who had an abortion in the UK and didn’t share their Irish address, or anyone who went to a different country. It leaves out every self-induced abortion that nobody heard of.

It takes immense courage to share your abortion story in Ireland. I remember the first time I heard those words- “I had an abortion”- in a public space: Continue reading “Big Damn Abortion Heroes in Ireland: Part Two”

Big Damn Abortion Heroes in Ireland: Part Two

Big Damn Abortion Heroes in Ireland: Part One

I’ve talked a lot recently about people getting in the way of access to abortion in Ireland. The women who ratted their housemate out to the police because she wasn’t sorry enough about her abortion. I’ve gotten deeply snarky about people who make mind-bogglingly ignorant arguments against pregnant people’s right to choose.

I have’t talked that much about the other side: the people who speak up. Those who tell their stories. People who risk arrest and villification to choose their own path or to support others’ choices. The big damn abortion heroes of our time.

As there are a lot of people to share, this post is split this into three parts.

Do you need an abortion?

It’s illegal in the Republic of Ireland to encourage anyone to have an abortion. It’s possible to provide information, but not to tell someone that you think an abortion might be a good option for them. Conversely, it’s perfectly legal to say whatever you like to encourage someone not to have one.

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If you’re in the North or South of Ireland and are considering abortion, Need Abortion Ireland is there for you. This website has everything you might need, whether you’re travelling to the UK or need a safe way to access abortion pills on the island. They’ve a text support service that you can contact at any time before, during or after your abortion. They’ll even send you a care package full of “pyjamas, snacks, films, anything you need to make your abortion experience as comfortable as possible“. If you need an abortion and you’re feeling isolated? These are the big damn heroes who’ll do everything short of coming to your house, propping your feet up and putting the kettle on for you themselves.

Continue reading “Big Damn Abortion Heroes in Ireland: Part One”

Big Damn Abortion Heroes in Ireland: Part One

Anti Choicers Ask The Darnedest Things. I’ve got a few questions for them.

I’m often amazed by the questions anti-choicers ask in conversations about abortion. They want to know if we know that pregnancy leads to babies, or that babies are people. They ask us if we know that we’re filthy murdering scum.

And, of course, they say things like this, in the comments on an Irish Times article from yesterday:

Picture of a Facebook comment, reading "Aren't you lucky your mother didn't abort you?"

I remember the first time I heard someone shouting this at me. I was at a counter-demonstration to an anti-choice march. They’d called it a ‘vigil’- but I’ve never seen a vigil to make so much noise. They were booming Queen (QUEEN! Queen is ours. Freddie’d be doing somersaults in his grave if the world made any sense at all) from loudpeakers on their giant buses followed by thousands of people carrying identical signs. Continue reading “Anti Choicers Ask The Darnedest Things. I’ve got a few questions for them.”

Anti Choicers Ask The Darnedest Things. I’ve got a few questions for them.

Six Top Tips To Avoid Being Despised By Anyone With A Shred Of Humanity: Abortion Edition

[CN: anti-choice, abuse, manipulation, pregnancy, police, miscarriage]

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Remember yesterday’s post about the anti choicers crying for the return of forced labour camps for people who have abortions, after one woman was just convicted of having had an abortion as a teenager? Just when you thought that woman’s situation couldn’t get any worse, it just did. I woke up this morning to an interview in the Belfast Telegraph with her housemates. The people- and I use that term in its loosest sense- who called the police to have her arrested. Those people- one woman in particular- spoke to the paper because they just couldn’t stand people vilifying them on the Internet.

You know what’s a really great way to not get vilified? Not doing morally abhorrent things. Not having a teenage girl arrested cause you don’t like the choices she made about her own body.

This advice is for them. Continue reading “Six Top Tips To Avoid Being Despised By Anyone With A Shred Of Humanity: Abortion Edition”

Six Top Tips To Avoid Being Despised By Anyone With A Shred Of Humanity: Abortion Edition

An Incomplete List Of Gendered Injustices Against Irish Women- and the people working to change them. Part One.

Happy International Women’s Day! While today is for celebrating marvellous women and their achievements, here in Ireland we still have a long way to go before women have equal dignity, autonomy, freedom and respect.

This list isn’t exhaustive. This series of posts details issues that I was able to brainstorm from my room in ten minutes on an A4 sheet of paper. There are undoubtedly far more things that I haven’t even considered.

But here’s what I’ve got.

1. Repeal the 8th Amendment

The 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution provides that:

“The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”

This means that without a referendum to change this, no Irish government can legislate for abortion in any case where the pregnant person’s life is not at risk. The chilling effect provided by the Eighth is probably why Savita Halappanavar is not here with us today. It means that if you die while pregnant, but it is possible for your body to be kept metabolising until the fetus is viable, your doctors must do so. Pregnant people who receive diagnoses of fatal fetal abnormalities are forced to travel to the UK for terminations. And to smuggle their wanted children home in the boots of their cars if they want to give them a burial.

It also means that any risk to a pregnant person’s health that doesn’t threaten to kill them is not grounds for a termination. No matter what that will do to their bodies.

Not all pregnant people are women. But most are. And the Eighth Amendment’s purpose is to control women’s bodies. It needs to go.

You can find out more about the campaign to change this hateful provision at Coalition to Repeal the Eighth. Continue reading “An Incomplete List Of Gendered Injustices Against Irish Women- and the people working to change them. Part One.”

An Incomplete List Of Gendered Injustices Against Irish Women- and the people working to change them. Part One.

The Bogeyman Of The 38-Week Abortion

In conversations about abortion, I keep on seeing interactions like this one:

A screenshot of several tweets between @jackmurphylive and @LeahNTorres.  First: @Jackmurphylive "@LeahNTorres you still can't answer me: 38 week abortion ok for you? Based on feels?". First reply  by Lean Torres is: "You view pregnant people as expendable objects, not as people. I doubt you'd value any answer I give.". Jack's next reply: "Your avoidance tells all. It's okay to misspeak, but retract and move on.". Leah'a final reply: "Is this 38 week baby going to suffer after being born, @Jackmurphylive? Is an abortion more humane than birth?"

When it comes to abortion, it seems like a certain number of anti-abortionists operate under quite a startling misunderstanding about what it actually is. Continue reading “The Bogeyman Of The 38-Week Abortion”

The Bogeyman Of The 38-Week Abortion

A guide to abortion services and information for people in Ireland.

This post is inspired by and adapted from a post originally published  at Feminism and Tea, also on the topic of abortion services. However: this is me saying all of it, and I take full responsibility for that.

Picture of a coathanger and the number "8th", crossed out in red.

Abortion is illegal in almost all circumstances in Ireland. In this post is information on the legal situation in the Republic, and how you can get the services you need. I’ll be sharing information on both legal and illegal methods of accessing safe abortions. If you need to use the latter, be careful! I’ll advise you on precautions that you can take to make sure everything goes smoothly and you get what you need. Continue reading “A guide to abortion services and information for people in Ireland.”

A guide to abortion services and information for people in Ireland.

Three years on from Savita Halappanavar’s death: My country still kills women.

Savita Halappanavar died three years ago today. She died of septicaemia. She died from a drawn-out miscarriage that went untreated too long. She died after spending a week in hospital.

A picture of a paper tealight-holder on a table with some papers. Printed on the holder is a young woman's face (Savita Halappanavar), and the words "Never Again"

Savita may have died of blood poisoning, but she was killed by the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution. Two decades of Irish governments have blood on their hands. They were too cowardly to legislate to protect pregnant people’s lives.

Three years ago, I wrote that my country kills women: Continue reading “Three years on from Savita Halappanavar’s death: My country still kills women.”

Three years on from Savita Halappanavar’s death: My country still kills women.

Dublin’s 2015 March for Choice: in pictures.

Sometimes I feel like Ireland’s reputation is unfairly overshadowed by our history. Conservative, grey, under the thumb of the church. And yes, there is a truth to that. But there is also a truth to this. Yesterday’s 2015 March for Choice was huge. The sun shone. Women took to the stage and shared their stories.

 

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The history of pro-choice in Ireland has often been difficult. I remember a few short years ago: countless winter vigils for our dead. Standing huddled in the cold and the dark. We wouldn’t stop until Savita had something resembling justice. Seem times it feels like we’re always responding. Yet another tragedy. Yet another woman dead. Or locked up until her pregnancy is done. We’re always on the defensive. Continue reading “Dublin’s 2015 March for Choice: in pictures.”

Dublin’s 2015 March for Choice: in pictures.