THE TEENAGER WHO looks at herself in the mirror and sees she’s still a child herself. The mother of three kids who picks up the latest gas bill, facing the prospect of being forced even further into mortgage arrears. The asylum seeker who sits in her hotel room and realises she does not want to bring up a child in direct provision.
The woman with the college books strewn around her who wants to focus on her studies. The transgender person whose pregnancy was entirely unplanned. Or the woman who quietly whispers or boldly exclaims, “I just don’t want children.”
A myriad of reasons exist for not wanting to have a baby, as any of these people can attest. It can be a difficult decision, or an easy one. Something that requires careful consideration, or not much at all. Something you immediately know is not for you – in that specific time, space or circumstance, or in any time, space or circumstance.
Bearing and raising a child is a choice. A choice millions make everyday all over the world.
People in the Ireland of 2016, an Ireland that promised to ”cherish” all of our children equally, and celebrated the centenary of the Easter Rising this year, still do not have that option, however. Indeed, we continue even to be shamed for having babies – if we’re too young, too poor, too unprepared, too uneducated. In Ireland, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
So what’s the story with abortion in Ireland? Well, under the current legal setup, you do have the “right to travel”. You can go have your abortion, but not on Irish soil, thank you very much. If you’re feeling suicidal or if having a baby is going to place your life in danger, then, alright, we might allow you to have an abortion here. But we’ll make sure you’re not lying first.
That said, if you access abortion in Ireland, we can throw you or anyone who helps you in a prison cell for 14 years. We haven’t done it yet, but we like the idea of having it in our back pocket, just in case.
But people in Ireland are defying this law, defying this logic. More than 1,000 abortion pills were seized by Irish heath authorities in 2014. Last year, we saw the abortion pill bus tour around the country, offering abortion related advice and support.
In 2014, we saw a group of activists, mirroring the so-called contraception train of 1971, marching into Connolly station, openly carrying abortion pills. We see thousands of banners, placards and stomping feet on the annual March for Choice.
Abortion is a necessity, and has been a necessity since, well, forever. Criminalisation will never change that fact.
But in reality – how does this work? How does someone who discovers their pregnancy access the abortion pill in Ireland? How does someone who can travel for an abortion explain their trip to the UK to their boss, their friends, their partner?
How can someone be sure that, if they require medical advice, their doctor won’t find out? And what about migrants who cannot travel – what kind of options do they have?
Taking action
We now know it is not sufficient that women die in order for the state to repeal its abortion law. We now know that the state – north and south – will isolate, prosecute and torture vulnerable people irrelevant of public opinion.
When confronted with such an attack on our health and on our lives, endless political debates are not enough, action is needed.
Faced with a state that refuses to provide for the healthcare of women, we must facilitate access to this healthcare ourselves and provide the conditions for people to practice this care.
Medical abortion is a unique example of this, as it is healthcare which can be practiced easily and safely at home, with a two-day course of medication.
A new support service launched this month, Need Abortion Ireland, aims to address some of the gaping holes in the system that so many are hurtling into everyday, to offer a hand where none seem at reach.
Needabortionireland.org supports women in accessing abortion pills in Ireland through Women Help Women, a pro-choice website that supplies mifepristone and misoprostol, the World Health Organisation-approved medicines for inducing terminations.
We provide practical help in accessing pro-choice healthcare, a live text support service between 6pm to 9pm everyday, and care packages to make people’s experience of abortion as comfortable as possible.
Such services and support in Ireland, where not offered by the state, are vital. Need Abortion Ireland, among other initiatives, is an example of how, when the law does not suit our lives, we take matters into our own hands.
It is a show of solidarity with the 12 people a day who pack their bags for a plane to the UK, and with those who defy the law and access abortion in Ireland. It’s about saying to the teenage girl, the mother of three kids, the asylum seeker, the student, the transgender person and the woman who never wanted kids, that we are not criminals, we can control our own destinies and that ultimately, we are cherished.
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