I
have been a bit absent from my blog a bit, and I know that I have not posted a
meal plan in a while. The truth is I have been preoccupied by a few things over
the past few weeks and one big part of that is the upcoming referendum on
repealing the 8th amendment. I’ve been
trying to find the words to post on here for a while now, and I know this will
not be as eloquent as some, but I feel that I need to get this out there ahead
of Friday.
I
have been sharing a lot of stuff over on my Facebook and Instagram pages that
make my feelings on the issue very clear. I am very much pro Repeal and will be
voting yes on Friday. I know this is an emotional issue, and I have had my
emotions go through the ringer over the past few weeks. I have gotten angry, I
have been anxious, worried, scared and I have cried. The 8th Amendment was
added in 1983, 35 years ago and I will be turning 34 this summer. So for as
long as I have been alive there has been a restriction on my medical care. As I
have never been pregnant, I have never really known what this has meant and my
pro-choice stance has always been based on my belief that a woman should have
the right to choose if she wants to carry and give birth to a baby, regardless
of the circumstances of its conception. However, since the tragic and awful
death of Savita Halappanavar, I have heard countless tragic and heart-breaking
stories of just how many ways this amendment truly affects the women and
families of Ireland. My reasons for being pro-choice have deepened greatly.
In
terms of my original reason for being Pro Choice, I genuinely believe a woman
should have a say in what happens in her body. Pregnancy happens in so many
different scenario’s and there are so many reasons why a woman may consider an
abortion. Who really is to decide what is a ‘valid’ reason and what is not. I
agree that an abortion is never an ideal scenario, and in an ideal world we
would not have any unwanted pregnancies. But we do not live in an ideal world.
No contraceptive is 100% effective, access to contraception is an issue and we
have a long way to go to improve our sex education in schools. For those that
do find themselves in a situation of a unplanned or crisis pregnancy, we need
to provide better support for these women so that less feel abortion is the
only option for them. We need to give them other, real practical solutions that
can be presented alongside the option of abortion so that people can make a
choice, and the choice that is right for them. It is never going to be an easy
choice, or one made on a whim, but it
can be made easier with more support for whatever option is right for the woman.
I know not everyone agrees with abortion for these (varied and valid) reasons,
but the fact is they are happening. Women travel every day, women import the
pills and take them in their homes alone and scared. We should be supporting
these women and making it safe for them. Ensure they do not feel alone and that
they do have options, but equally the option they have chosen is valid.
For
what the No side like to call the ‘Hard Cases’ (I am not sure there is such a
thing as an ‘Easy Case’), but let’s look at the instances of Rape & Incest.
We need to have compassion for the victims in these scenarios. I am aware not
all victims will choose this path, but the option should be there. We should
not be looking to prolong their suffering or make it worse. Not every victim
wants to disclose the cause of their pregnancy, or discuss it with anyone. And
why should they have to? The reason the 12 weeks without disclosure of reason
is being proposed is to cater for these victims, they have already had their
choice and control taken away from them, so we need allow them the compassion
and respect to decide for themselves without adding them to their trauma.
We
have read and heard from so many women who have suffered the devastation of a
FFA and how one of the most difficult time in a person’s life has been made
that much worse by the 8th Amendment. For those women who get comfort from
carrying these pregnancies to term for the chance of a few precious moments
with their child, they get all the support they need here at home as it should
be. For those who feel that is not right for them, who can’t carry a doomed
pregnancy to term. Who can’t deal with the questions from friends, co-workers
& strangers about due dates where they have to verbalise the pain they are
going through or lie and brush off the question. For those who have families to
care for and other children to consider. For those that feel allowing a child
to be born into a short life of pain and suffering is not compassionate or
right. For those, we offer them nothing but the option to travel. The stories
of these families are nothing but heart-breaking. Women who have to travel
alone as their family cannot afford to go with them. Families who have to leave
their babies behind and have remains couriered back, or smuggle these remains
back in their car. We need to give these women and their families back their
dignity and allow them the right to deal with their tragedy in the best way for
them.
Currently
the only way and abortion can be performed is if there is ‘real and substantial
risk’ to the life of the mother. That leaves it up to our doctors to determine
how sick we let a woman get before the risk of death is real and substantial.
For women suffering miscarriages, they must wait until the either the heart has
stopped beating or some sort of infection has set in before they can intervene.
And in the case of some infections, waiting for this to develop can be
disastrous. In other countries, where a miscarriage like this presents the
women are given the choice of waiting or allowing doctors intervene to speed up
the inevitable. For some women with existing conditions, the risks to their
health change and increase during pregnancy. Some medication is not compatible
with pregnancy, some treatment plans and some medical tests such as MRI’s
cannot be performed during pregnancy or certain times during pregnancy. For the
majority of medical procedures and treatments, men and women are given a say in
what risk they are willing to take with their health. The doctors present the
facts and a choice is made. This right is taken away from women during
pregnancy. For some women, they are willing to wait to be a deaths door for the
chance of having a baby. For others, the bar is set lower. Neither woman is
given the option here, there are no choices given as the doctors must act
according to the 8th. Why do we not give
women the trust, dignity and respect to have a say in their healthcare during
pregnancy.
I
am voting yes on Friday because I trust women to make the right decisions for
themselves. I trust that they will listen to the medical advice presented and
be able to decide what is best for them. I trust that if a women says she
cannot continue with a pregnancy then there is a valid and good reason for that
which is quite frankly none of my business. The women of Ireland are so much
more than baby makers. The change will not take away the choice of women to
continue their pregnancies, every day people have much loved and much wanted
babies and repealing the 8th amendment will not change that. So on Friday let’s
prove that as a country we respect women to know what is best for them.
