Galway Pro-Choice would like to thank everyone that came out today and made our demonstration such a success. For anyone unable to make it, there was a moving street action showing women as prisoners of the 8^th Amendment guarded and kept in line by the ‘Irish State’. We had Dr. Sophie Faherty, a local G.P and member of Doctors for Choice address the crowd and our own Sarah McCarthy who addressed the tragic circumstances which have led us here, again, on the streets calling for a referendum to repeal the 8^th Amendment. Due to such a massive turnout, we also decided to march through the city. It was a fantastically loud show of solidarity, not only to the young woman at the centre of the most recent horrific case, but to every woman in Ireland that has been forced to leave the country to access an abortion and those who risk 14 years in prison for importing pills to have an illegal abortion here.

We have never been able to vote to allow abortions in this country – only to restrict our ban further.  The youngest person that could have voted on the 8^th Amendment would now be 49 years of age. This means that the women in Ireland today that are of child-bearing age, directly affected by the 8^th Amendment have not had a chance to have their say on it.

Politicians have said there will not be a referendum in the lifetime of the current government.  Why not? How many more tragic cases have to happen before they let us vote on this issue? Write to your politicians and demand your vote! You can contact your local T.D through whoismytd.com  and you will find the petition to repeal the 8^th Amendment at repealthe8th.ie.

Demonstrations were held today in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Derry, Belfast, London, Berlin, Warsaw and as far afield as Auckland.

The message is clear.  This issue is far from over.

Next Tuesday 26^th August at 6pm, we will be having our next organisational meeting in the side room of Monroe’s on Upper Dominick St. All those who want to help the campaign are welcome to come along and get involved in making this happen. Hope to see you there J

Taking part in a protest in Belfast has proven a very empowering experience to me. Although we were a small group compared to the anti-choicers who were parading, I feel we did make a statement – women need to be heard, our bodies are not a property of church/state, and we are here to stay until our demands are met. Police was around and they were quite intimidating, but that wouldn’t deter us. We chanted, shouted, and peacefully made a point that we are here to stay. Taking active part in a protest has been the materialization of my cyberactivism and I have learned a lot and am extremely grateful for the opportunity Galway Pro-Choice has given me. As a newcomer, it’s important to feel welcomed and GPC has been an outstandingly friendly group so far.

The Choice and Feminist Societies at NUI Galway secured a significant victory in a referendum held last week. The referendum was to decide whether the Students Union should take a pro-choice stance. The exact proposition that was voted on was:

‘That NUIG Students Union adopt a pro-choice position, in support of the national campaign for full reproductive rights, which includes a woman’s right to abortion, whether elective or medically necessary. Furthermore, the SU should use every available measure to realise these rights on campus and nationally.’

This was a radical proposition that goes much further than the very limited legislation the government is expected to bring forward by the summer. And if we are to believe national polls, the referendum proposition went much further than public opinion. A poll in the Irish Times just last month found that only 37% of people fully supported a woman’s right to choose, although the poll found a large majority in favour of allowing abortion when a woman’s life/health are at risk or in cases of rape/incest or foetal abnormality.

Yet when the vote happened last Thursday, 70% of students who voted, supported the proposition. And this was with the highest voter turnout in years, possibly the highest ever in NUIG. Out of 3,596, votes, 2478 voted yes, 1118 voted no.
Obviously this reflects the fact that young people are generally more supportive of abortion rights. If the same vote was taken on a national basis the result would most likely be very different. But following on from success in referendums in Trinity College and DCU, it shows that things have changed drastically in this country.

Read more…

Galway Pro-Choice would like to clarify that we did not arrange a formal meeting with Colm Keaveney for today Saturday July 6th. This was in part because the last time we were in direct contact with him he was rude and hung up on one of our member.

We decided that a sit down and conversation was going to achieve very little; Keaveney has already voted against the legislation and has made his views on this issue clear. We have sent him several postcards and letters outlining our position on this legislation; he has had every opportunity to take it into consideration. We hoped that going to his office as a group and staging a protest would perhaps highlight the issue of his vote against life-saving legislation for women.

On his Facebook page he wrote:

“I will be seeking the agreement of one of the organisations that I am meeting with to see if I can reschedule their meeting or to leave early in order to accommodate Galway Pro-Choice and to meet with them to discuss their views.”

Read more…

Due to his known opposition to accessible X-Case legislation, Galway Pro-Choice will be holding a protest outside the office of Galway East TD Colm Keaveney in Tuam on Saturday 6 July at 2:30pm.

The protest will be followed by a pro-choice public meeting in the town’s Corralea Court Hotel at 3.30pm.While there are certainly many flaws with the legislation in its current form, Mr Keaveney opposes it for all the wrong reasons. He objects to the “suicide clause” in the Bill. Yet two referendums and countless opinion polls have shown that the vast majority of Irish people support its inclusion. This position shows a callous disregard for those few women who become suicidal when denied access to abortion; such as the 14 year old rape victim Miss X.

Ciara Dalstra of Galway Pro-Choice said:

“As a Tuam town councillor, Deputy Keaveney told anti-abortion colleague Martin Ward that abortion was ‘the last resort for women and every aspect of a woman’s decision should be looked at and taken into consideration’. He also stated that extreme anti-abortion literature was ‘sickening and offensive’. Yet now he is the darling of extremists in Youth Defence due to his opposition to even this inadequate legislation. He has claimed that his objection is due to a lack of term limits, but has consistently refused to state after what point in a pregnancy a woman’s life should not be saved. If his about-turn on abortion is an attempt to make his life easier in a rural constituency at his next election, I can assure him that I and many of his other constituents will not forget his shameful disregard for the health of women if he continues to oppose meaningful X-Case legislation.”

Read more…