Vanguard News Network
VNN Media
VNN Digital Library
VNN Reader Mail
VNN Broadcasts


Go Back   Vanguard News Network Forum > News & Discussion > Uncensored Europe + > Ireland
Donate Register Multimedia Blogs Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Login

 
Thread Display Modes Share
Old September 24th, 2016 #1
NewsFeed
News Bot
 
Post It's almost impossible to get an abortion in Ireland - but that could change soon: 1000s of Irish women each yr must travel outside the country - most to the UK - for an abortion.

Thousands of people are expected to gather in cities around the world on Saturday to protest in favor of abortion rights for Irish women. The protesters are expected not only in Dublin but in cities including New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Wellington, Sydney and even Phnom Penh in Cambodia, focused on the fact that Ireland has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world.

Indeed Irish law considers abortion a criminal act — even in the case of rape, incest or a fatal fetal abnormality — punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

For the first time since Dublin's March for Choice began in 2012, the campaign has taken on a global aspect, bringing with it renewed attention on Ireland's abortion laws which the UN this year called "cruel, inhuman and degrading."

Those organizing the campaign believe it is a basic question of human rights. "Women are still treated as second class citizens in their own country," Vanessa O'Sullivan who is helping organize the march in Dublin told VICE News. "They are still treated like infants when it comes to their healthcare. They are not trusted."

That however is just one view, with many in Ireland still holding strong pro-life opinions. "The fact that some countries bury their heads in the sand and won't face up to the facts of what abortion involves is not a reason for Ireland to join with these other countries and introduce a law that strips the unborn child of all protections," Cora Sherlock of the Pro Life Campaign told VICE News.

Ireland is in many ways a very modern country. Just last year, it became the first country in the world to approve same-sex marriage by a popular vote, winning admiration and acclaim across the globe.

However Ireland is still very much a country rooted in an era when the Catholic church dominated. Despite years of sexual abuse controversies, declining numbers, a shortfall in priests and an aging congregation, it still casts a huge shadow over the country, and nowhere is that more obvious than in relation to the abortion laws in this country.

According to Article 40.3.3 of the Irish Constitution — known as the eighth amendment — 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 effectively gives an embryo, from the moment of conception, the same rights as the woman carrying that embryo. This, according to those campaigning to change the law, "creates a discriminatory health system where a pregnant woman only has a qualified right to health care."

The result is that thousands of Irish women every year have to travel outside of the country — most to the UK — to have an abortion. The only situation where an abortion is legal in Ireland is when there is an immediate threat to the life of the mother.

While women have been campaigning to repeal the eighth amendment from the day the country

----- snip -----


read full article at source: http://news.vice.com/article/its-alm...ld-change-soon
 
Reply

Share


Thread
Display Modes


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:09 PM.
Page generated in 0.39408 seconds.