*Updated* Is Youth Defence breaking by-laws to continue their anti-choice poster campaign? Dublin City Council allows postering on their property (e.g. lamposts) within strict guidelines (here). Posters may only be posted for specific events and/or meetings. They must be posted within 7 days of the event/meeting and taken down within 7 days of the event/meeting’s finish. Youth Defence recently posted the posters (above) across the city to advertise a … Read More
Legislation We Can’t Live With
The following press release from the Abortion Rights Campaign explains the reasons they cannot support the ‘Protection of Life During Pregnancy’ Bill Press Statement: The Abortion Rights Campaign [ARC] has after extensive analysis, said the ‘Protection of Life During Pregnancy’ Bill is “not fit for purpose.” According to the ARC it will A) not protect women’s lives and B) not establish safe and accessible abortion in Ireland within the narrow terms … Read More
Hands Tied
It seems the new Draft Bill on Protection of Life During Pregnancy is winning few supporters from any side of the debate. It’s not just the zombies and immaculate conception brigade either. Here’s the view from the ARC and NWCI The Abortion Rights Campaign (ARC) spokesperson Sinéad Redmond said, “It’s immediately apparent from this bill that it ignores the needs of the majority of women in Ireland who seek abortions; … Read More
Briefcase wanker tells Kenny to man up
When Enda Kenny revealed he receives letters written in blood from “pro-lifers” calling him a murderer it was only going to be a matter of time before victim-blaming briefcase wanker, Senator Ronan Mullen, waded in to uphold the honourable name of the anti-choice fundaMentalists. Sure enough, Mullen told TheJournal.ie “…the Taoiseach has on several occasions played the victim around nasty messages of an anti-abortion nature that he tells us he … Read More
Daddy or Chips? New adverts invoke French fascist ad campaign
A series of new street and newspaper advertisements, with the tagline ‘We are defined by the choices we make’, are confusing and beguiling Dublin pedestrians and readers of the Irish Independent. The ads are reminiscent of the Front National campaign that caused outrage across France when voters were urged to choose between one image of France and another. The image of Seine -Saint Denis, in the northeast of Paris, burning … Read More
Twenty years too late…
Savita may still have died even if the current draft legislation for X was in place. Last night the government published the Heads of Bills for legislation on X, twenty-one years and two referendums later. While the move is welcomed as a first step towards recognising a woman’s right to life, health and bodily autonomy it easily disappoints. A feeling you’ve became more than familiar with when you think of the current FG/Labour coalition. … Read More
Youth Defence and Short Memories.
Bias! Censorship! Omerta! It’s been interesting to watch reaction to the Gosnell case both here and across the Atlantic. Naturally, a big effort is being made to link this to forthcoming X case legislation and this is of course typical bullshit from the very people who would, and do, drive women into dangerous situations as Carole Joffe writes in Dispatches from the abortion wars: “that such clinics can flourish until the … Read More
“A Catholic country”
The midwife manager on St Monica’s Ward at Galway University Hospital has confirmed that she told Savita Halappanavar that a termination could not be carried out because Ireland was a “Catholic country”. Giving evidence to the Coroner, Ann Maria Burke said: “She had mentioned the Hindu faith and that in India a termination would be possible”. She said the remark had “come out the wrong way and I’m sorry that … Read More
Birth Control from the Archives
Some fascinating BBC radio archive spanning the breadth of modern birth control in Britain. From Dr. Marie Stopes first clinic in 1921 through her controversies, towards the modern day. Eugenics, class, Catholic arsonists and freedom from grinding poverty. We always asked the women where they first heard of the clinic and a great many of them said ‘We were told in Church not to come!’ Listen here
100 women face jail for abortion pills
The PSNI launch probe after 100 women admit taking or buying abortion pills The 1861 Offences Against the Persons Act makes abortion illegal in most cases and carries a penalty of life imprisonment. Over 100 women and several men signed the declaration thus admitting taking, buying or abetting others to obtain abortion pills. This move follows the SDLP & DUP sponsored amendment, being debated at Stormont this Tuesday which will make … Read More