To ask our British sisters for help?

[Hideandgo]

Repeal the 8th. You may not have a vote today but if you are willing, could you show support for the yes vote for us Irish women on social media? I’m sure many of you have Irish friends and if it encourages just one more person not to forget to vote it would be worth it.

I had a termination when I was 22 and felt deeply shocked and less than human when the Irish nurse told me ‘we don’t do that here’ when I asked about my choices. Luckily I was living abroad (just coincidently at home when I found out) so had one as soon as I got back to the country I was living in but I avoided tying myself to an increasingly abusive man who would have been able to take my baby from me and force me out of the country if he’d wished.

I credit my 4 beautiful children, my kind, supportive husband and my freedom to be the kind of Mum I always wanted to be from that decision.

So many Irish women have a loaded gun to their heads when they find out they are pregnant and it’s wrong to force them to become a Mum. This doesn’t even take into account all the mishandled miscarriages and devastating cases of foetal abnormality. Every woman is vulnerable to a miscarriage that doesn’t resolve immediately and Irish women have been forced to hold on to a dying heartbeat till they themselves have septicaemia and/or PTSD. It’s barbaric and wrong. And makes women feel useless and dehumanised.

Please help us.

My SIL is voting no because she believes life begins in the womb. She knows that babies die anyway but she cannot bring herself to vote to agree with it. It may seem wrong to others but it's her belief.

I can understand people with this viewpoint abstaining. I can’t understanding them actively voting no. That crosses the line from not wanting to go against your own personal beliefs (fair enough, I respect that) to wanting to actively force those beliefs on others and deny them the right to choose for themselves.

I’m really moved at the folk travelling to vote,inspirational to be so emboldened

The #hometovote hashtag on twitter will have you in tears, it is incredibly moving.

Agreed, those who can't vote #yes should consider abstaining.

It's a vote about whether the existing legislation should be scrapped. There's been some suggestions and threats about what new legislation should look like, but that's not what this vote is about. There can't be change without a Yes.

#BeMyYes #Together4Yes

Thinking of Irish women today. Have posted in support of you on social media

I’m from Irish family but not eligible to vote

The #hometovote hashtag on twitter will have you in tears, it is incredibly moving.

Yup. That's me. The young man travelling home to vote to 'return the favour' of him now having the right to marry. That pushed me over the edge.

Yes, abstaining would be a better idea in SIL's case.

Have to be honest when I was deciding it was the one thing that never occurred to me, and she probably didn't think of it either.

I’m stunned at the way pregnant women’s health has been has been required to be put at risk, in favour of even onon-viable foetuses. It’s hard to comprehend. I’m also thrown by my own ignorance about this implication.

Me too, AuntyElle.

I read a harrowing account on the "In Her Shoes" page of a woman who made the decision to travel after receiving a fatal foetal abnormality diagnosis because she couldn't face the idea of being a "walking tomb" for nine months.

Nine months of getting bigger, having well-meaning strangers asking you when you're due and whether you know if you're having a boy or a girl, when you already know that all you will have at the end is a dead baby.

And that's before you even get on to the subject of health risks and doctors being unable to intervene or treat the mother for certain conditions as long as the foetus still has a heart beat, unless she is literally dying.

It doesn't bear thinking about. Except that we should all be thinking about it.

I'm English And I've shared on social media. I have followed this issue since I read about poor Savita Halappanavar a few years ago.

It's a disgrace that in a civilised country, women do not have the right to decide what's right for them.

Oh I already have done.

My Irish friends are voting to repeal and the ones who are no longer eligible to vote are also supportive of it.

I have everything crossed for the right outcome to this.

I was going to post a similar thread last night. I am Irish and also had an abortion many moons ago in Manchester. I travelled alone and when I needed to visit a gp when I returned as I had an infection I was shivering for 48hours before the visit to scared to go. He was an elderly gp from Indian and he was so kind. I was shamed as when I was organising the trip I phoned positive options for information and the lady said abortion was not a positive option.

Today is a big day, I have voted yes though I am shocked at the amount of women my age 38 and under who are going to vote no. Not on any religious ground but murder. I have heard so many say I would never murder my child and others complaining their tax will now pay for murder.

I haven't rtft. I am most shocked as women will now be arrested on their return from the UK for manslaughter if the no vote passes.

Yes, LoveInTokyo, I cant take in how putting women’s health at active risk like that has been legal.
I read this: twitter.com/inheririshshoes/status/998280875564466177

I saw that one too AuntyElle. Appalling.

I have been supporting ever since I became aware. I am sorry to say I wasn't aware of the full implications of the 8th until fairly recently.
In my work I meet women who have made the decision to carry on with pregnancies following a catastrophic diagnosis. Things like Pataus, anenchephaly and other unsurvivable conditions.
This may be their free choice or it may be a choice made under the burden of culture/religion.
Whatever their reasons we support them
But why on this earth would anyone force a woman to endure what these mums have to, against their will?
If the pro birthers could see.
If they had to face up to the consequences of their vote.

You can be pro choice AND a disability advocate AND refuse screening for yourself. You can be concerned about the medical attitude towards disabled babies and STILL think women should have absolute choice

Its not either/or despite what those probirthers want you to believe.

I am most shocked as women will now be arrested on their return from the UK for manslaughter if the no vote passes.

What? The Right to travel isn't being taken away if No wins

Already posted. Good luck

Posted, shared etc.

I am most shocked as women will now be arrested on their return from the UK for manslaughter if the no vote passes

Don't talk shite. For one thing a NO vote means nothing changes at all, for another the right to travel for a termination is already enshrined in law.

Don't scaremonger.

Even reading this thread has had me selling up, I've been in bits reading stuff on Facebook & Twitter.

I'm English so can't vote but we've been discussing it at work & I've been sharing stuff online.

Keeping my fingers crossed for a strong yes result

I am most shocked as women will now be arrested on their return from the UK for manslaughter if the no vote passes

This is not true. And, given the number of women who have managed to secretly travel to date, how would the gardai suddenly know the purpose of their travel to the UK?

Thinking of you today Irish sisters. Hope the right result wins.

#TogetherForYes
#repeal

I’m 2nd gen Irish in London, I’ve been all over social media like a rash for the last few weeks. Currently got the Repeal pics as my profile and cover pics on fb.

Trinity66. i dont mean it will effect the right to travel. You can be stopped from travelling for an abortion, and charged for having one. Women have been stopped, none so far charged.

You can be prosecuted for up to 14 years if you order and take abortion pills in Ireland.

Abortion is seen as murder by many and the law. If the No vote wins they have to take it serious as the NO brigade want abortion stopped altogether for Irish Women.