Marching for Choice in Dublin, my latest post on Feminist Ire, is a writeup of yesterday’s pro-choice march.
We were genuinely and collectively in awe at our numbers, here on O’Connell street. For the first time in my life, I felt that we might get somewhere with this. That we might really have some power to change things. Living in Ireland, it’s hard to truly explain what a truly big deal this is. How much of a revelation.
The Irish state needs to face up to its responsibility for the many thousands of women who have travelled overseas for abortions. It has a long-standing habit of brushing inconvenient women under the carpet- years ago to be incarcerated in Magdalene laundries, now on Ryanair flights to Britain. At yesterday’s march we came together to say that we are no longer going to accept this. We’re sick of being silenced and of our choices villified and shamed. We’re not going to accept being caricatured as heartless murderers anymore. We care deeply for the rights and well-being of all of us, for everyone in this country’s right to self-determination. And we’re not going to be quiet anymore.
For more, and for tons of pics from the march, head over to Feminist Ire!
Wishing you all success! Once achieved, don’t let down your guard. Here, they try to roll back the clock, but I’m quite heartened by the response. I’ve heard so many stories from women of all generations.
You are amazing. I, too, look to a time when my Irish daughter has the right to choose without having to get on a flight to a foreign country and deal with cold strangers in order to get an abortion. Though I hope that will never happen to her, I want her to have the choice to stay here to get the care she needs- here, her home- and be treated with love and compassion regardless of her choice.
Absolutely. There’s so much cruelty in forcing women to travel overseas, often alone, for what can be such a difficult moment in their lives. I hope that everyone of your daughter’s generation never has to experience that.