‘Alliance For Choice’ will be publicly breaking the 1995 Information Act outside the Department of Justice in Dublin on Monday 8th March. The ‘Regulation of Information (Services outside the State for Terminations of Pregnancies) Act 1995’ or more commonly known as the ‘Abortion Information Act 1995’ severely restricts Irish people’s access to information about abortion services abroad. The legislation has serious implications for the protection of women’s welfare when they are faced with a crisis pregnancy. The Act sets out the conditions under which information (the names, addresses and telephone numbers of abortion clinics) may be given, by individuals or agencies, on legal abortion services available outside Ireland. Under the terms of the Act, information can only be given in the context of face-to-face counselling. It is illegal for a doctor to make an appointment with an abortion service on behalf of a pregnant woman, even if her health is at risk.

Commenting Niav Keating said: “By restricting Irish people’s access to information about abortion services abroad, the Irish government is placing unnecessary stress and strain on Irish women. This form of censorship cannot be allowed to continue. Irish women must be able to obtain information easily in order to allow them to make informed decisions when facing an unexpected pregnancy. Despite the difficulties caused by the Act, more than 6,000 women per year have abortions in Britain. We demand that the 1995 Information Act be repealed so that women can obtain information with anonymity and ease. We also call for the regulation of all agencies offering pregnancy counselling. We will be publicly distributing leaflets that include the names and telephone numbers of clinics in the United Kingdom and Europe on International Women’s Day. We see this action as an act of civil disobedience similar to the actions of the women involved in the Contraceptive Train who in 1971 travelled to Belfast and purchased contraceptives. On their return to Dublin they challenged the customs officers at Connolly Train station by openly declaring their illegal imports.“

Alliance for Choice: Background
AFC Information for Irish women about abortion services in the UK and Europe

It's true to say that a very real and ugly form of social apartheid exists in Irish society while at the same time our Government takes its usual proverbial ostrich approach to the problem. This social apartheid is experienced by the single most discriminated against ethnic minority in Ireland, the Travelling Community.

Inadequate accommodation, poor health status and low educational attainment galvanized by government policy and practice, have in turn exasperated the discrimination and the exclusion of Travellers from mainstream society. Travellers experience prejudice of every shape and form on a daily basis and thus are denied their basic human rights when it comes to utilizing the most basic services in society. The under representation of Travellers in the Irish Education system is one of the most worrying examples of the inequality and discrimination that over the last fifty odd years have been stitched deep into the fabric of modern Irish society.