Vera Drake - Could it happen in Ireland?

by Niav - AFC Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:20 http://struggle.ws/ireland/allianceforchoice/index.html

With the release of ‘Vera Drake’ and publication of the book ‘Mammie Cadden’ by Ray Kavanagh, the topic of backstreet abortion has recently been in the media. AFC will hold a Public Meeting in the Teachers Club on the 8th March at 7:30 to deal with the important issue of backstreet abortions. Ann Rossiter will speak of her own personal experience of backstreet abortion. Ivana Bacik will also speak.

In the summer of 2004 the gardai investigated two cases of backstreet abortions. In one case a Romanian woman in her late 20s is believed to have paid a Moldovan woman 500 euros to terminate her pregnancy. An apartment in Blackhall Place has been searched and medical equipment and anaesthetic chemicals have been found. In the second case, a Dublin maternity hospital contacted the gardai after a woman in her early 20s and from the Philippines was admitted following complications that arose from a back street abortion.

Back street abortions cause the deaths of about 70,000 women every year world wide. Back street abortions are not a new phenomenon in Ireland and between 1926 and 1974 there were at least 58 recorded prosecutions under the 1861 Offences against the Persons Act. However, since the 1967 Abortion Act in Britain, back street abortion had ceased to be a major problem in Ireland as many Irish women travelled to the UK to terminate a pregnancy. Between January 1980 and December 2002, over 105,000 Irish women terminated a pregnancy in the UK. Since 1967, 5 women are known to have died from back street abortions in Northern Ireland.

‘Alliance For Choice’ is a diverse group of pro-choice activists who are campaigning for free, safe and legal abortion services in Ireland. This involves:
•Campaigning for the repeal of Articles 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861.
•Campaigning for a referendum to delete the 8th Amendment. The 8th Amendment “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”.
•Campaigning for the 1995 Information Act to be deleted so that women can obtain information with anonymity and ease. We also want the regulation of all pregnancy-counselling agencies.