Guest post: Abortion Support Network - "In Ireland, motherhood is the punishment for poverty"

[MumsnetGuestPosts]

What would you do if the condom broke? If you were pregnant as result of rape? If you had three children but no job? If your wanted pregnancy was diagnosed with a fatal anomaly? What if you lived in a country where abortion is against the law?

"Please help. I've tried everything to try to miscarry... I've been drinking excessively, I've tried throwing myself down stairs, and even tried to overdose. I can't have this child. I don't want it!" – ASN client

In both Northern Ireland (despite being part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland, abortion is almost completely illegal. And as studies have shown, making abortion illegal doesn't stop or even reduce the incidence of abortion. It just stops safe abortion. Or put another way, for those across the Irish seas faced with an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy, women and couples with money have options, and women and couples without money have babies, or take dangerous and desperate measures.

Abortion Support Network is a tiny charity that provides practical information on how to arrange the least expensive abortion and travel, financial assistances towards the cost of abortion and travel, and accommodation in volunteer homes to women forced to travel from Ireland and Northern Ireland for abortions. ASN does this with a mobile phone, a website, a database, one part-time employee, dozens of volunteers, and amazing individuals who give us money.

We do this is because we think being a parent is an important, fulfilling and difficult job, and not a role that should be forced on someone who doesn't want it. Parenting shouldn't be meted out as punishment to people who have non-procreative sex, but not £400-£2,000 in the bank.

"I used to have a job but it's so expensive to have someone mind the children. My partner has only been able to find work sporadically and we've been rationing food for the kids and have had the electricity turned off we're so short of money. We borrowed money for the flights and that money will need to be paid back too."

There is no typical woman who needs an abortion. ASN has heard from women as old as 51 and girls as young as 13. Women in or escaping abusive relationships, women pregnant as result of rape, women with serious mental or physical health issues. Women with children, women with grandchildren, women with no children. Married couples who felt they had enough children already. Students wanting to continue their educations rather than their pregnancies.

What did these people all have in common? They were pregnant. They didn't want to be pregnant. They are poor. And they never in a million years thought they'd be calling a stranger in England to ask for money to pay for an abortion.

"I was raped last month but never did anything about it as I blamed myself. I have now discovered I'm pregnant. I can't possibly bring a child into this world at this time in my life and I would rather die than go through with this pregnancy. I need to have an abortion but I haven't got the money."

All of the obstacles placed in front of women forced to travel for abortion care mean that very often, they are later in term. While fewer than 1.4% of abortions performed in the UK take place between 20 and 24 weeks gestation, at least 7% of ASN's clients need abortions at that stage. This is due to the delays caused by needing to raise funds, apply for passports, or, even more time-consuming, visas. Tragically, more than ten ASN clients have arrived in England only to find that they are over the legal limit for a termination – sometimes by as little as one day.

"I have several children including one who is quite ill. My husband abandoned us and I've never left my children before. I was saving up the money but am now past 14 weeks which means the price has gone up from £350 to £600, which seems impossible. If I am not able to do this before I am 18 weeks and six days the cost doubles to over £1,300. I just cannot see any way to do this. I had no idea that women in Ireland had to go through this."

ASN is a small organisation trying to alleviate an enormous problem. The Department of Health may be reporting falling numbers of women travelling to England for abortions, but calls to Abortion Support Network have increased year on year, from 89 in our first full year to 552 in 2014, an increase of 520%.

"I have two very young children and the youngest was diagnosed with a severe disability. I am so scared this baby will have the same or worse and either way I can’t handle caring for another child."

The women and couples who contact ASN are the living embodiment of the cost of making abortion illegal. We don't ask how a pregnancy occurred or why an abortion is wanted. We don't even ask if the caller is a woman. Our only criteria for funding is financial need and whether or not we have money in the bank. Abortion Support Network is a sticking plaster on this situation, not a solution. While groups like Abortion Rights Campaign Ireland and Alliance for Choice campaign for much needed law reform, we are providing women with the help they need most immediately: money.

"I never understood before how being able to have an abortion could be empowering, but now I do".

I don't think it's well phrased but evidently ASN supports those who otherwise could not afford to make private arrangements, therefore there is a link between its service and women who for whatever reason have little access to cash.

I would happily donate to Marie Stopes etc to make private abortion available to women on low incomes in the UK as well - this isn't a paternalistic approach to Irish women.

I've read those threads Duplodon and I'm not disagreeing with you, but those threads are not this thread nor this organisation. i don't think it is fair that they are linked. Are you aware that ASN was set up by an American woman? And as England is the closest place to Ireland that offers abortion it is only logical that it is based there. ASN was not set up as a patronising gesture to Irish woman, and it is angering me that your posts are suggesting that.

wahoo!!! 102% of goal reached! go team

Laws that are voted for by democratic majorities are absolutely capable of violating human rights. There's no contradiction whatsoever between something being supported by the majority of the population and being a violation of the human rights of another segment of it.

Good. It enrages me that in a country (MY COUNTRY!) where there is no subsidised childcare, women are still denied abortion on demand. I have no time for abortion in certain circumstances. NO. I want a woman to be able to decide for herself if she wants an abortion. And if she goes ahead and has the baby, society should be structured in a way that supports her and her child.

I think Poverty is the punishment for motherhood though.

I've been donating just £2 to this charity a month for a few years now. Very little I know. But I wish there were a way to have mumsnet match my contributions!

Irrespective of your views on abortion legislation in Ireland, inaccurate, inflammatory, divisive thread titles should not form part of a fundraising campaign. Manipulating the public through misinformation in an effort to illicit financial support for any organisation is irresponsible, but for it to be propagated by an influential 3rd party such as Mumsnet is a whole other level of wrong.

I would also query the misinformation re passports and visas. A person travelling from Eire or Northern Ireland from the UK would not normally require a visa. AFAIK.

That'd be the case if they were an Irish or EU citizen Viviennemary. A non-national in Ireland without an Irish passport could require a visa to travel to the UK.

"this is due to the delays caused by needing to raise funds, apply for passports, or, even more time-consuming, visas."

Vivienne, it's clear from this sentence that ASN do not mean a visa in every case. It is possible that a non-Irish national would need a visa to travel to the UK.

X post squiggle.

No, but some would. There are non-EEA citizens resident in ROI and some of them are from countries requiring a visa to enter the UK. As such, you're playing fast and loose with the term 'misinformation'. Nowhere is it claimed that all or even most women in this position require visas. Just that it's sometimes the case.

I appreciate that. But I still think it's misleading.

I think unwanted motherhood is a punishing ordeal, the title isn't maybe what I would have gone with but the charity is not unusual in choosing something which alludes to the key issues whilst grabbing attention.

I also think that the law was democratically elected is an irrelevance when considering whether is is an abuse of human rights,dictatorships can create humanistic laws and democracys abominations. And whilst I didn't read the thread implying women in Ireland were backwards if the theme was that the legislature is wanting from a progressive or feminist perspective then hell yes it is. In itself this is no surprise as laws reflect history and the history of Ireland has been profoundly patriarchal and actually this is exactly why an International perspective is useful.

Do you? I don't. I assume they have had cases where getting a visa has taken additional time and expense.

Perhaps we read things in opposite ways. As so often seems to happen with you and me.

A british or irish citizen would not but I assume someone from another country might.

I don't think the thread title is inaccurate. I am poor, a student. (I won't be one forever, but at the moment I am cash poor)
And as such I had to make a decision between getting an abortion and committing to raising a child to adulthood. Stretching my already limited resources between the children I already had. Making their lives a bit more fraught and difficult. How can I be a responsible parent to the children I have by bringing another into the world? Potentially resenting this poor child?

ASN were there when I needed them. When I was contemplating selling possessions in order to travel. Waiving my bills for a few weeks. Working out whether I could afford a 4am taxi to the airport from rural NI because obviously no transport.

Again this is a situation other British women won't be in. And unfairly many Irish and northern Irish will have to go through it. This is not right.

Oh and let's not forget the delays to raise the money might push you into a higher price bracket.

I had to reschedule my procedure for 2 weeks later because I needed more time to raise the money. The stress of wondering whether I had pushed myself into a higher price bracket was awful.

Can you tell us why you think it's misleading viviemnne? It says women travelling to the UK to access abortion sometimes incur the extra expense of obtaining passports and visas, and that this can mean they travel larte Unless you're suggesting this has never happened, which considering the number of people in ROI who'd need a visa to enter the UK I presume you're not, it couldn't possibly be misleading.

Punishment forms no part of the legislative situation in relation to abortion in Ireland

Women are not punished for being poor.

Women are not forced to become pregnant because they are poor.

The thread title is wholly misrepresentative of the legal situation in Ireland, and this misrepresentation along with the appeal for money, does not sit well with me.

Maybe they should spend a couple of hundred quid of the raise on a copywriter?

I can see why it grates; there's a line between attention grabbing and making people uncomfortable. But ASN is run on a shoestring and providing a valuable service for which people have an immediate need. That qualifies it for a donation AFAIC.

Women with unwanted pregnancies are punished for being poor in Ireland.

Women with means and resources have the option of going to England. That's out of reach for poorer women - which is where charities like this come in.

It definitely felt like a punishment to me. Not in legislative terms but otherwise yes.

Had I had the money, I would have booked the procedure without delay. Hell, I'd have gone to Marie Stopes in Belfast and paid the £400 odd for the procedure.

But because I lacked the funds and the savings I was completely stuck. I wanted to end the pregnancy but didn't have the financial means to do so.
If I couldn't access the funds I would have to become a mother.

How is not a punishment for being poor? I'm in NI if I were to become pregnant now, I would want an abortion. I'm not sure how I would pay for it. I'd have to use meagre savings at the minute, sell stuff, borrow money and lie about what I needed it for, take unpaid time off work to travel and have the abortion. I've 3 daughters, should the situation not change with regards to abortion in NI, I'll be putting money away in case they need an abortion. That's a depressing sentence to write but it's the reality at the minute.

I admit I was nitpicking. I apologise for this. But I don't like their approach at all. And the Motherhood is a punishment for poverty is not acceptable in any way. And why do people have to travel to the UK if there is a Marie Stopes in Belfast. Or is it that they refer people to the UK.