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 Thursday July 05, 2007 08:53 by R.E. Silvera - Choice Ireland ascots at gmail dot com 0879478051
 A Report From Last Saturday's Rally
A Pro-choice Activist Addresses The Rally
On Saturday 30th of June, 2007, Choice Ireland held a rally at the Central Bank Plaza at 2pm. The theme of the rally was "Fight for a Woman's Right to Choose". In attendance were Senator David Norris as well as Ivana Bacik and a representative from Doctors for Choice, who spoke on their different experiences of the issue of reproductive rights, as well as the status of the campaign in the light of a recent M-R-B-I poll that presented that a majority of people now support legislating for abortion rights in the Republic of Ireland.
It was a busy Saturday noon, and Dublin's hive-like activity carried on as usual. While tourists, emo/goth teens and shoppers walked around, some people were handing out fliers in order to try and get some last-minutes attendants to the rally which was about to begin. Choice Ireland had been slowly gaining notoriety due to their work during the recent D case, in which a young woman was denied the right to travel for an abortion since she was in the care of the Health Service Executive. Moreover, recent polls commissioned by the Irish Family Planning association show a great change in attitudes to abortion in Ireland. Capturing the mood of those polls, Choice Ireland held a brief leafleting event in front of Dail Eireann on June 27th, with a suitcase or backpack for each Irish woman that, statistically, travels daily for an abortion either to the UK or elsewhere in the European Union. Related Links: Images and Audio From Previous Rally | Alliance for Choice Calls "D" Case A Tragedy | Teenager Seeking Abortion Challenges HSE | Report of Rally In Support of Miss D | Doctors For Choice Advocate Choice | Founding Documents of Choice Ireland | Revolutionary Anarcha-Feminsit Group Hold Meeting On Choice and Class | A UCD Student Reports On Her Experience with Rogue Clinics | European Court Of Human Rights Turns To Restrictive Irish Abortion Law | Report From Rally At Rogue Information Clinic | Choice Ireland After the introduction by Choice Ireland member Shonagh, Seanad candidate Professor Ivana Bacik took the stage. Her speech congratulated Choice Ireland on their efforts and called for attention to women's rights from mainstream politicians, who had notoriously shied away from the issue in the light of a looming election campaign which followed shortly after the D case came to public attention. Bacik's articulate delivery prompted cheers from the crowd during and after her speech.Next up was Senator David Norris, known for his work on gay rights and innumerable other campaigns. He reminded those in attendance of the attitudes he had faced himself, as well as the ignorant way in which gender rights were treated in mainstream Irish politics. He called for the campaign not to sink to the lows displayed by people opposed to it, saying all voices should be heard, and none should lie about or silence the other. His witty take on the issue was informative while providing a smile to the faces of the crowd. Following on from Senator Norris was a representative from Doctors for Choice, who went in-depth regarding the issue of choice in the medical field, the fact that many doctors would like to speak out but can't due to fear for their reputation or their jobs. However, she reassured the crowd that this meant that the number of physicians supporting abortion legislation is much larger than one would assume. She also explained in no uncertain terms that abortion is a safe medical procedure, demystifying the misinformation distributed by outlets such as 50 Dorset Street, a known rogue pregnancy counselling agency. Shortly after, a representative from Alliance for Choice read out a statement from said group calling for the need to legislate on the matter and raise awareness. A member of Choice Ireland briefly followed, reading a statement from Psychiatrists for Choice. Finally, Sinead Ahern of Choice Ireland spoke on behalf of the group, outlining its principles and the insidious techniques utilised by many in the pro-life campaign. She drew attention to the rogue agency in Dorset Street, which has operated under many names and upon which no legal charge can be brought despite its provision of misinformation. Sinead spoke of her experience passing herself off as pregnant to investigate the agency. Among these lies was, for example, the idea that a woman who has had an abortion would become genetically depressed and pass on this trait to the rest of her family. This was the final speaker in the act. Despite the irregular summer weather, the rally had a large turn-out and, uncharacteristically, only a solitary heckler, who silenced himself upon realising the mood was not in his favour. The days of violence over abortion rights in Ireland may soon be in the past. Many left in great spirits due to the rally's perceived success. A British woman in attendance commented on the small size of the rally. A Choice Ireland member, however, remarked that "this is Dublin, we've had a rally with no violence and over 200 people. It's huge progress."
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Comments (12 of 12)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12I haven't been keeping up with developments in pro-choice activism, so can somebody please tell me the difference between Choice Ireland and the Alliance for Choice?
AFC is basically an umbrella body for Pro-Choice groups, it develops policies, issues press releases etc.
CI is an activist group which organises actions and rallies as detailed in the piece above. CI will continue its campaign against the WRC and other fake counselling centres.
" A member of Choice Ireland briefly followed, reading a statement from Psychiatrists for Choice."
The statement was from the Cork Women's Right to Choose group
well done for organising this rally Choice Ireland.
its good to see an active group drawing attention to this issue.
Well done on the rally and the campaign
I attended it and even bought the t-shirt.
Its sad that in the 21st century we have to hold rallies to demand basic human rights.
20 people a day having to travel abroad for what should be a public provided medical procedure is another example of theanti woman bias in this country caused by faith in and submission to the invisible man in the sky.
Ireland has to allow abortion on demand soon; it's simply barbaric to deny it to women who don't want a child, but we need to have a good availability of contraception & morning-after treatments to spare women the trauma of surgical abortion & the emotional fallout from it.
As regards the Guy in the Sky/'Im Upstairs, many women who are Christian & even Catholic use contraception & even abortion, but are not willing to talk about it except to a few confidantes. Christ left no teaching on this matter so we have to be guided by conscience, & always have to take the least harmful choice.
god what a silly billy i feel like i went off to the abortion rally thinking i was at the right one. D'oh. fair play you had some great speakers, ones such as ivana bakik and senator david norris speakers that are heard... listened to. i went ot the other one and it was all death, stop the killing, church-nuns,priests. people that were dressed like you would meet them in the street, which isn't too suprising considering our history . but for foreign people it would have sent a clear msg. a message of our acceptance of this. not the right one in my opinion.
Its noteworthy that both Norris and Ivana Bacik are TCD reps who would not have get in by any other way. The electoral roll for TCD is tiny and only a few thousands votes gets one election. They may be leading liberals on this issue but they are not representative of the community at large.
The TCD Quota = 4230, Norris got over 5,000 votes.
The numbers are rather small on a restrictive and rather elitist franchise which just underscores my point. By the same token the other side on this issue cannot make too much of a meal out of Ronan Mullen's election. Recall also that when Bacik put herself forward in an open election with a full franchise (for the European Parliament) she was defeated.
point of info. xina -
support for, or procuring an abortion and being a catholic (the roman kind) are mutually exclusive.
Conscience doesn't enter into this one. Some catholics may not like it but if you're in the army you wear the boots. To argue otherwise is to fool no-one but yourself (and maybe a few others).
"Christ left no teaching on this matter so we have to be guided by conscience, & always have to take the least harmful choice."
That is a very facile and vacuous statement of Christian ethics. Defenders of the catholic position would assert that He founded the church to proclaim the faith including on basic ethical issues of this kind. Many reformed tradition churches are also opposed to abortion based on their own theologies and insights into ethics.