I want to see the 8th amendment repealed, and safe, legal access to abortion in Ireland. I fully understand that Ireland's track record on women's health care, including around childbirth, has at times demonstrated a disregard for the wishes and well-being, and in some cases the personhood, of women. Most of the horror stories are from previous generations, but I know from first-hand experience that the maternity services aren't perfect here and could be improved in some areas. And I cried with sympathy and with anger over what happened to Savita, as many many people in this country did.
So this is not me saying that Ireland's current legal prohibition on abortion is fine, or that women aren't disproportionately disempowered by the medical establishment here, as women are elsewhere.
But I am just wondering, from the tone of some previous posts and the comments about the extreme fear some people apparently felt about the prospect of giving birth in Ireland, whether those on this thread are aware that Ireland has a lower maternal death rate than the UK? This is true even after having adopted the same classification system used in Britain, which is more comprehensive than the system previously used (in that it includes indirect and coincidental causes of death for pregnant and post-partum women - like epilepsy, flu and road accidents - as well as deaths linked directly to pregnancy and birth, like pulmonary embolism and uterine rupture). The maternal deaths per 100,000 are (thankfully) in the single digits for both countries for the past several years, and in most years Ireland has fewer.
The facts about the relative safety of giving birth in Ireland vs. the UK don't really jibe with the image being painted on this thread of the UK being a place of safety to flee to if you don't want the "risk" associated with giving birth in Ireland. You'd be every bit as safe if not safer here, apparently. But sure don't let the facts get in the way of your assumptions about your "backward" neighbours to the west.
The timing of this and other threads during the weekend where we in Ireland have collectively taken an enormous step for progress and justice, is grating. We have gone further than the UK or any other country in the World in asserting the equality of our gay citizens - not just by passing legislation but by amending our constitution so that equal marriage can't be threatened by future conservative governments. We are proud of ourselves for this, and we should be.
It's disheartening and offensive to see how some on MN have felt the need to scoff at this sense of pride and progress as the "worst of mawkish Irish sentimental self-congratulation," (cheers for that casual stereotype Bathtime 
) to try to minimise Ireland's achievement by changing the conversation to something that the UK has done better (except of course, you haven't done it any better, because women in the corner of this island which the UK still controls don't have access to abortion either).
I also find Bertrand's assertion that "nobody ever died of not being able to get married" to be incredibly dismissive of the fact that studies have found that gay people in Ireland are seven times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts are. Do you really think there's no link between being knowing that you'll be seen and treated, in law and in society, as a second-class citizen, and having a higher risk of not wanting to be alive? And do you not think that the resounding message of solidarity that over a million people sent on Friday will go some way toward making it less likely that some LGBT people will feel so hopeless and so isolated that depression takes hold and suicide starts to seem like an option?