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Women in Poland went on strike today to protest planned new abortion laws

The new laws propose prison terms of up to five years for women seeking an abortion.

POLISH WOMEN DONNED black, waved black flags and took to Poland’s streets today, boycotting their jobs and classes as part of a nationwide strike waged to protest a legislative proposal for a total ban on abortion.

Many men also joined women on the streets of Warsaw, Gdansk and elsewhere across the largely Catholic nation on what has been dubbed “Black Monday”.

The country already has one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws and opinion surveys show very little support for an even stricter law, despite the nation’s deep Catholicism.

The strike and street demonstrations follow a street protest by thousands on Saturday in front of the parliament in Warsaw.

Women were wearing black in a sign of mourning for the feared loss of reproductive rights and for the deaths that they feel some women will face if the proposal passes as it stands now.

Under the existing law, in force since 1993, abortion is banned except in cases where the woman’s life is in danger, the fetus is irreparably damaged or the pregnancy results from rape or incest.

The new proposal, now being examined by a parliamentary commission, would make all abortions illegal, even in cases of rape or when the woman’s life is at risk, with prison terms of up to five years for women seeking abortion and doctors who perform them.

The proposal for the stricter law came from a pro-life citizens’ initiative that had gathered 450,000 signatures.

Poland Abortion Czarek Sokolowski Czarek Sokolowski

While it was difficult to gauge participation in small towns and rural area, which tend to be conservative, participation in the cities appeared to be significant this morning.

A large crowd gathered in central Warsaw and people were also out on the streets in other cities.

The private all-news broadcaster, TVN24, with some of its own newscasters in black, broadcast images of establishments joining the strike: a restaurant in Wroclaw that closed to let female employees participate, a museum in Krakow where none of the women showed up to work.

In Czestochowa, perhaps the most Catholic city in the overwhelmingly Catholic nation, the city hall reported that some 60% of female workers refused to show up to work.

Poland Abortion Czarek Sokolowski Czarek Sokolowski

The day of action also included a call for housewives to refuse to do housework.

The organisers of today’s strike took their inspiration from a strike by women in Iceland in 1975 when 90% of women refused to work, clean or look after children, to voice anger at discrimination in the workplace.

The strike was seen as success, raising awareness of women’s plight and leading to a law the next year that guaranteed equal rights for men and women.

Read: Make no mistake, today’s March for Choice is just the beginning of a long ground war >

Read: Poland pushes ahead with near-total ban on abortion >

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124 Comments
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    Mute Richard Doherty
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 2:42 PM

    Women in ireland need to make their voice heard here and make sure the eight is repealed

    274
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    Mute Homer's imp son
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 2:47 PM

    Jasus, Richard. The 8th amendment is all we hear about, non stop day after day. Regardless of reproductive rights or killing of the unborn, it can hardly be said that women aren’t making their voice heard.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 2:59 PM

    @Homer’s imp son:

    Has there been anyone arrested for the ‘killing of the unborn’? And what were the charges for all of these “killings?”

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    Mute Homer's imp son
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:20 PM

    Have you been drinking the extra strong calpol again?

    36
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    Mute James Odin
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:21 PM

    Abortion stops a beating heart.

    79
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    Mute Trisha Tully
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:25 PM

    Is that a problem for you Homer’s imp son?

    45
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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:32 PM

    @James Odin: a foetus is not a person. A pregnant woman is a person.

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    Mute lavbeer
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:36 PM

    Again the comments demonstrate the need to distinguish between medical required terminations and the rest.

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    Mute Ross Stewart
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:41 PM

    James Odin, the slaughter of farm animals for food stops a beating heart. Actually 56 billion beating hearts a year.
    Don’t hear you bleating about that though

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    Mute lavbeer
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:42 PM

    As a first step I mean.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:45 PM

    @Homer’s imp son: Have you been getting out of your playpen again?

    34
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    Mute James Odin
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:47 PM

    @Ross we don’t eat children to survive, we eat farm animals to survive. Ludicrous comparison.

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    Mute Ross Stewart
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:02 PM

    Bullsh!t. Ever heard of vegetarianism? Its your choice to support ending 56billion beating hearts every year.
    Ironically those are fully sentient beings capable of independent life, yet the ‘life’ you consider sacred is only of a cluster of cells dependent on another’s.
    Hypocrisy

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    Mute James Odin
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:17 PM

    Ross you are comparing children with livestock. Do you’ve any idea how ridiculous you sound?

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    Mute Adrian
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:35 PM

    James Odin, he doesn’t sound ridiculous to me. Have you heard of Peter Singer, one of the most respected philosophers of our time? Look him up. He has written at length about many ethical questions, including abortion and animals. Practical Ethics is a good read, even if you end up disagreeing with a lot of what he says.

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    Mute Ross Stewart
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 5:07 PM

    If you want to lament the end of a foetus, don’t make the argument about ‘a beating heart’, as clearly you couldn’t give a sh%t about 56billion other beating hearts. Just use a different emotional analogy, or else you might come across as hypocritical, even ridiculous.

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    Mute Ross Stewart
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 5:09 PM

    Adrian, I doubt James would sit through 5 minutes of one of Peter Singer’s talks. It’s wasted on him

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    Mute Greg Blake
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    Oct 4th 2016, 3:02 AM

    You gotta love people who think that being impressed by a philosopher and being able to throw down a few quotes equates to critical thinking and originality within themselves.

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    Mute Ross Stewart
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    Oct 4th 2016, 8:52 AM

    Carry on with being judgmental and prejudiced there Greg. No need to actually join the debate; just mock people instead.

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    Mute Quango
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 2:52 PM

    What little access to abortion services women in Poland currently have, it is still more accessible than here in good old catholic Ireland.

    Now that that much is under threat they are having a national day of striking.

    Kenny and co. should be counting their blessings that Irish people haven’t got the same sense of protest. When did we become so apathetic?

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    Mute Liam Foley
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:00 PM

    @Quango: Why are all these people who want to abort babies at any stage of pregnancy fro any reason so obsessed with Catholicism …

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    Mute Tom Burke
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:08 PM

    It’s called deflection Liam.
    It means they don’t have to look at their own morals.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:19 PM

    @Liam Foley: “Why are all these people who want to abort babies at any stage of pregnancy fro any reason so obsessed with Catholicism …”

    The only thing that is aborted is a pregnancy.
    Majority of abortions are done in the first trimester
    The rest are done due to the health of the mother/foetus
    Not one of them was ever your business,unless of course, a member of your family had one.
    70% of people who procured an abortion in the US were Christians,and a fair % of them were Catholic-maybe that’s why?

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    Mute Quango
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:23 PM

    Have you ever read the constitution? It’s riddled with direct and indirect references to catholic teaching. Not to mention that it’s clearly reported that this law in Poland is being pushed by the Catholic Church.

    Separate church and state.

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    Mute Liam Foley
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:25 PM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: No, you’re confused, abortion is the deliberate destruction of the live human foetus or as every woman who is pregnant and wants to keep it calls it, a baby.
    You are deflecting talking about trimesters, if you want to be consistently in favour of abortion you can’t impose a time limit. You can’t say that a foetus is X size and can be destroyed. It makes no sense.
    70% … so what? I’m sure in your own mind that makes sense but not in the real world.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:35 PM

    @Liam Foley: a human foetus is not a person. A human foetus has the contingent potential to become a person. It may or may not eventually become a person.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:38 PM

    @Liam Foley:

    Abortion is simply the termination of a pregnancy.

    Baby is a term of endearment

    It is a human zygote,human embryo,human foetus

    I’m in favour of having the same abortion laws as there is in most of the Western Developed countries
    I don’t make the rules,and thankfully,neither do you.

    70% of women who procure an abortion in the US are Christians-and the majority of them are Catholics..That is what is happening in the real world

    Hope this helps.

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    Mute James Odin
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:50 PM

    Lol citation needed on that statistic Francis! We can’t just take your word for it on that one.

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    Mute Nick Drake
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:58 PM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: I just can’t understand why pro-abortion people will not allow themselves to admit that a feotus growing inside a woman’s uterus is a human life. therefore if the pregnancy is aborted, so is that human life. It’s not really that difficult to grasp, or is it?

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:02 PM

    @Nick Drake: you are wrong again. The foetus is not a human life. The human foetus is an organism with human potential but unless or until it is born, it is not a human being or a human personality.

    You are conflating a human life with a biological process taking place within a human being.

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:05 PM

    @Nick Drake – because if they did they would have to confront the possibility they are monsters.

    42
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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:10 PM

    @Squarepeg01: I am a MONSTER!! Hilarious!

    48
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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:11 PM

    @Squarepeg01: it’s about the pro choice side putting reality before religious dogma and religiously inspired pro-life ideology.

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:13 PM

    @Michael OLainn – You are being fast and loose with your definitions today. Of course a fetus is a human life. It’s living after all and it’s not a mere appendage. It depends on the mother for nourishment (as does a newborn) but it’s a completely separate entity that regulates its own bodily functions.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:16 PM

    @James Odin:Now,that is hilarious,you asking me for a citation.Comedy Gold!

    27
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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:20 PM

    @Michael OLainn – ah yes, the old liberal trick of presenting itself as non-ideological and progressive and every view that challenges its orthodoxy as dogmatic – read ‘principled’ – and therefore bad.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:26 PM

    @Squarepeg01: no, it is a mere organism which is fed through the umbilical cord and wholly dependent on the pregnant woman for oxygen, nutrition and all life support. It remains in this state, if it survives, until child birth when the umbilical cord is settled. It is still dependent on adult support but the baby is capable of breathing autonomously, taking external nutrition, using its own excretory system and able to live and breath without entire dependence.

    The foetus remain a foetus up to birth but may be viable for delivery prior to going to full term.

    We don’t recognise legal personality until the process of birth. None
    of the rights of a human being are conferred until after the birth process.

    41
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    Mute Vincent Wallace
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:28 PM

    Because Liam according to half these pro choice. nut jobs. You couldn’t possibly be against abortion unless you are under church influence. That goes the same for pro life nut jobs on the other side saying you must be a femininazi of you want the choice if having an abortion here. Good thing we all can vote whatever way we want too.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:37 PM
    24
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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:42 PM

    @Vincent Wallace: did you not hear the Archbishop of Armagh being interviewed in the last few days and again yesterday promising Roman Catholic Church funding a parish level to support the campaign to retain the Roman Catholic Inspired 8th Amendment?

    Have you studied the role of the Roman Catholic Church in foisting the 8th Amendment on the Country back in 1983?

    The role of the Roman Catholic Church and the 8th Amendment are inseparable.

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:46 PM

    @Michael OLainn – An organism is a life. It’s strange that this has to be pointed out. We don’t declare an accident victim a non-person until brain death. The fetus certainly has independent brain activity, certainly in the 3rd trimester. You are undermining your own argument with such an ectreme position. I suspect there are many who would be prepared to allow limitef abortion in the early stages but would be terrified of a view like yours gaining ground.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 5:14 PM

    @Squarepeg01: I express my views not for popularity but for the sake of reason and rationality.

    Thomas Paine adocated the removal of religion from law in the 1780s and showed how religious fundamentalism bends facts and logic in the service of religious dogma.

    An internal organism is biological entity, it depends on blood and nutrients, perhaps in the case of the foetus, amniotic fluids buy that does not confer on it the status of a human life. It is not separate. It becomes separate at birth following the severance of the umbilical cord. That is when life starts for a human being. Until then, it is a mere adjunct of the pregnant woman, internal and part of her.

    The brain activity of the foetus has not been shown to confer cognitive and higher brain functions until very late in the pregnancy.

    We keep alive human victims of accident and illness because they are alive, have had brain function and just might recover brain function, however limited. They have earned this, having been born, lived, formed relationships and family connection. Empathy, compassion and solidarity drive this, rightly so. These factors don’t arise in the case of a foetus.

    My arguments do not mean that a foetus has no value or worth even though it is not yet a human life, human being or a person. It has human potential and emotional worth to the pregnant woman. But the existence of the foetus should be contingent on the willingness of the pregnant woman to want to maintain the foetus. The rights of the pregnant woman should and ought to prevail over the foetus, because the foetus is not an equal human being, not having been born, at least as of yet.

    I advocate for the interests of the pregnant woman as vastly more important than that of a foetus.

    Religious casuistry does not change my view.

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    Mute lorcmul
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 6:02 PM

    @michael O’lainn so regardless of religion it is your view that a woman that has a miscarriage has only lost a foetus as it was not born yet

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 6:31 PM

    Vincent – have a look at Liam’s friends list, it is like a who’s who of the Irish Catholic fundamentalist. Odd that he did not comment when one of his friends was public berating a parish for allowing a gay couple on the choir in Kildare and another of his friends was in charge of a sham abortion advice centre in Dublin.

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 7:02 PM

    @Michael OLainn You keep changing the goal posts. You say that birth is the beginning of life and that this is because the baby is now independent. But when I mention that an accident victim may not be independent, you talk about his having earned his personhood. But a newborn hasn’t earned anything so infanticide up to this first month or two would be your logic. Your readining is not sound. Moreover, the higher brain functions of a newnorn would be no more sophisticated than a ‘fetus’ just prior to birth yet you would call one a person and the other an ‘internal organism’, which indicates to me that choosing birth as the definitive moment is arbitrary. Legally this may be true, but that is a matter of pragmatism rather than an insight into the moral or metaphysical reality of personhood.

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    Mute Nick Drake
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 7:06 PM

    @Micheal OLainn: Life begins at conception Michael, go ahead and try to divert yourself from that fact. If it’s in a human, it’s human life.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 7:32 PM

    @Nick Drake: conception is not the start of life. Conception is fertilisation.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 8:18 PM

    lorcmul, that is absolutely scientifically accurate but the loss is also traumatic because of the potential future that has been lost. To try to bring the suffering of victims of miscarriage into this is quite disgusting.

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    Mute richard fennessy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:00 PM

    Liam to find your answer look at iona yd and other pro birth pages infactuated with religion

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    Mute richard fennessy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:03 PM

    Ask your intolerant hateful friends

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    Mute lorcmul
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:12 PM

    @superdavis i was merely querying @michaelo’lainn in his belief that a foetus is not anything until it is born as I now challenge yours when you say that a foetus has a potential future?

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    Mute Polly Dolan
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 2:45 PM

    Well done. It’s time women took control.

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    Mute Tomestical
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 2:50 PM

    The world is doomed.

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    Mute european liberal
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:09 PM

    I loved one protest banner I saw that said “PiS off” some of you will get that some won’t

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    Mute Zoe Daly
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:20 PM

    @european liberal: I wonder if US billionaire George Soros is funding the abortion lobby in Poland, as he is doing in Ireland. Unlikely our ‘news’ media will ever tell us anyway…

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:34 PM

    @Zoe Daly: His Organisation helps an awful lot of groups around the Globe.Have you any credible evidence that Soros himself okayed this donation? Thanks.

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    Mute Zoe Daly
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:44 PM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: strange that people know so little about this organisation considering all the work done all over the world – including changing our laws & constitution in Ireland. Irish media don’t seem too curious anyway.

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    Mute Jeanette McDonald
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 5:40 PM

    @ Zoe, and who’s funding Iona and their “charitable” status?

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 6:03 PM

    @Zoe Daly: I’ll take that ‘answer’ as a no.Cool.

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    Mute Chris Martin
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:12 PM

    How about instead of campaigning for a repeal we campaign for our governnment to eradicate poverty, put support systems in place for women who have crisis pregnancies, better perinatal care and better support for the families of children born with special needs and life limiting conditions.

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    Mute Daisy Chainsaw
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:21 PM

    Anti choice, forced brothers don’t care about children with disabilities or the families having to deal with them. Once you’ve evacuated the vaginal canal they cease to be bothered and move onto policing the next uterus.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:21 PM

    @Chris Martin: Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd back to the real world…

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    Mute Doireann Ní Chonghaile
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:21 PM

    @Chris Martin: Why can’t we do both?

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    Mute Laura Walsh
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:22 PM

    Or how about we let women choose instead of you or the government?

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    Mute Liam Foley
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:35 PM

    @Daisy Chainsaw: Freudian slip there with the forced brothers remark. If you cared about children with disabilities you’d be campaigning for more resources, not less, which is what euthanasia is about.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:39 PM

    @Doireann Ní Chonghaile: it a matter of putting the interests of real human beings, which include pregnant women before the interests of a human being which is not a foetus.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 5:59 PM

    Don’t forget about her houses for the children, access the to healthcare, education, access to child care so the mother that you force can have some kind of life. Where are the fathers in your analogy? No one ever mentions them.

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 6:37 PM

    Liam – I take it you have adopted several disabled children in Ireland then?

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    Mute Rebecca De Stanleigh
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 8:16 PM

    Chris that’s a lovely idea. But what about women who are carrying babies with severe illnesses? Like missing chromosomes, fatal conditions etc. Where the woman will probably not carry to term and if she does the baby won’t survive outside the womb?

    Will your nice idea do any good for these women?

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    Mute Chris Martin
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 10:53 PM

    I mentioned perinatal care and life limiting conditions Rebecca..did you even read the comment?

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    Mute Rebecca De Stanleigh
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    Oct 4th 2016, 12:10 AM

    Well I’m talking life ENDING conditions. Not limiting. Did you read mine?

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    Mute Chris Martin
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    Oct 4th 2016, 8:28 AM

    Yes…thats what perinatal care would be for. Try to keep up…

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    Mute Dave Gillen
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:54 PM

    Yet another journal article on abortion where the vast majority of the anti-choice voices would appear to be male. Very telling and very disappointing.

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    Mute Brian Lenehan
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:55 PM

    And pro-abortion views too it seems.

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 6:35 PM

    Ah Brian have you been elected yet? Look at the names of some of the people you stood for the Christian Solidarity Party with, same as the names on your Facebook profile, odd that.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Solidarity_Party

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    Mute Zoe Daly
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 7:08 PM

    @Paul Fahey: Why are you always snooping through peoples facebook accounts, friend lists etc. to use as ammunition to attack them Paul?
    Downright nasty. Like some kind of stalker.

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 8:43 PM

    Zoe – have not snooped though yours as it would be full of Daily Mail links. When people claim not to be religiously motivated I call BS.

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    Mute Brian Lenehan
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 8:48 PM

    Paul, your fascination with me is by disconcerting, it’s creepy and it’s unhealthy.

    You think you know me? You haven’t a clue, and you’re not going to bully or intimidate me into silence. It might work with others you might deal with but it won’t work with me. Bullies need to be called out, and I call you out.

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    Mute Zoe Daly
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:05 PM

    @Brian Lenehan: Brian, he has done this numerous times. He goes through the account of any individual who disagrees with him, and then throws back personal information (on their family/friends/political views/religion etc.) as abuse.
    He has even done it with another commenter (above), in this article. It ultimately is about silencing those he disagrees with.
    For the Journal moderators this appears to be acceptable, but I would be very careful with any personal information on this website.

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    Mute richard fennessy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:06 PM

    Strange paul how they seem to be embarrassed r ashamed of there religion

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:13 PM

    Brian – the truth is out, you can call me a bully all you like, but demanding control over the women of Ireland is bullying. The truth is you do not it that I unearthed the fact you stood for the Christian Solidarity Party with you likeminded fundamentalist friends.

    I am not going to go away because you call me a few names either, I am enjoying this.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Solidarity_Party

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:14 PM

    Zoe – ah poor you, can you not find anything on me in your beloved Daily “hate” Mail? It must be another media conspiracy, perhaps you could pray for it to stop.

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    Mute Brian Lenehan
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:18 PM

    I’m not ashamed of being Catholic, it’s just that it’s as irrelevant to my feelings about abortion. Don’t get me wrong. The Roman Catholic Church do advocate for the unborn, good for them. They also advocate for prisoners, the poor, the homeless, the hungry – also good.

    That they take a similar stance in defence of human rights as I is nice to know, but the Church has not formed or influenced my views on abortion specifically.

    I am a humanitarian. I value and will fight against human rights abuse. There are a great many forms of human rights abuse, and I wish I could defend all as passionately as I do the rights of the child, but I feel this is the fight that needs to be fought now. Just as American slave owners of the 1800s denied the humanity of the African slaves, you have people, some on this very forum, denying that the unborn child is even human, as if it magically becomes human as it travels through the birth-canal. With such frighteningly bizarre logic as that, of course I’ll defend them.

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:21 PM

    Richard – absolutely, but the reality is that they do not like to be shown as a very small group of connected people who are no longer representative of Ireland.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:25 PM

    @Paul Fahey: That is an excellent link.Thank you!

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    Mute Brian Lenehan
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:28 PM

    And you think you are? YOU?!? Are you having a laugh? You’re no more representative of the zeitgeist of Ireland than Twink. You’re delusional if you think the nation wants abortion on demand. Take your head out of your arse and the little bubble of The Journal forums and you’d see that.

    You think that little demo last week was a seismic shift for the country in the “fight for abortion rights” as they say? It won’t make a jot of distance. The only upside for those who went was that they got to burn a few calories walking.

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:40 PM

    Brian – please remind everyone how many votes you got, that should be an indicator of how representative you are.

    The answer is 80, eighty, eight zero!

    Now let’s have a look at how many votes your friends got, an abacus is not required as the numbers are small, not far away, small.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Solidarity_Party

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    Mute Con O Sullivan
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 10:18 PM

    @Paul Fahey: Wikipedia, what a wonderful source for reliable information

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 10:21 PM

    Brian – and when you consider you stood in the only constituency that rejected the SSM referendum, but they still rejected your fundamental Catholicism you must be way offside of public opinion. Let’s see how the next referendum goes.

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 10:22 PM

    Con – says man with a folklore degree who claims to be the godfather of a princess, outstanding comedy material.

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    Mute Trisha Tully
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    Oct 4th 2016, 3:34 PM

    It shouldn’t matter what the nation wants when it comes to the subject of abortion Brian. It should be available to women who decide that’s how they want to deal with an unwanted pregnancy. We shouldn’t have to have a referendum, the same as we shouldn’t have had to have one on same sex marriage. It’s nothing to do with you or anyone else.

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    Mute Liam Foley
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 2:46 PM

    They do understand that the coat hanger thing is a hoax, right? At least the woman with the plastic one knows, right?
    By the way TheJournal needs to make it known that the protests are organised by the dregs of the old Communist Party

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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 2:52 PM

    @Liam Foley: I’d sooner the dregs of the old communist party than the catholic church any day…

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    Mute Liam Foley
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 2:59 PM

    @Get Lost Eircodes: That’s because you have never experienced Communism, you think you’re oppressed but you haven’t a clue really. Being told you can’t play with yourself isn’t oppression.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:22 PM

    @Liam Foley: “They do understand that the coat hanger thing is a hoax, right? At least the woman with the plastic one knows, right?”

    Can you provide credible proof of this ?

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    Mute Ewa Rejman
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:25 PM

    @Liam Foley: Not true

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    Mute Liam Foley
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:27 PM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: Err, you don’t seem to understand how proof works. Those that say coat hangers were used to induce abortion need to prove that this was a practice. It never happened otherwise you could disprove what I say by offering evidence that it did happen. Is that too difficult for you to understand?

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    Mute Conor Kennelly
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:35 PM

    @Liam Foley: It’s not a hoax, 50,000 women die every year in countries where abortions are illegal. Many of the women protesting weren’t even born in 1989 so your red baiting is a bid outdated much like the rest of your outlook.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:42 PM

    @Liam Foley: You said that it was a hoax & I am asking you to provide your credible proof that it didn’t happen? Next you’ll be saying that women weren’t drinking bleach,too? Of course you will-you are deluded.

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    Mute Nick Drake
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:01 PM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: lol, you are so passively aggressive it’s almost funny, you should go and lie down for yourself ….

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:11 PM

    @Nick Drake: I’m having fun with ye antis,it’s one of my favourite pastimes..

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    Mute Lily
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:15 PM

    You know bleach would disintegrate ones oesophagus? * I once drank battery acid as a kid, burnt my oesophagus.

    On a side note abortions have been around since human kind, due to lack of contraceptive and being unable to feed a large brood of children. They were common place, women were told what herbs to use and told what heavy workloads / activities would lead to abort the pregnancy.

    In Ancient Greece the only reason a woman would be charged for abortion is if her husband wanted the baby.

    There was an incident where a woman killed a newborn in Ancient Greece, she went to trial and the jury said, the child belonged to her so she could do with it as she wished.

    Our ancestors were bloodthirsty, child/infant sacrifice was a thing in some cultures too. Children were far from cherished.

    Only in the 1800s did a movement begin to ban the practice of abortion.
    By the 1900s it had progressed due religion and becoming more civilised and less bloodthirsty and availability of contraception.

    Only in the last 30 years with it becoming more commonplace and normalised due to high demand.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:32 PM

    @Lily: This is what women were/are doing when abortion is illegal,or hard for the woman to get.

    METHOD:

    “Even safe abortion in developing nations carries risks that depend on the health facility, the skill of the provider, and the gestational age of the fetus. With unsafe abortion, the additional risks of maternal morbidity and mortality depend on what method of abortion is used, as well as on women’s readiness to seek postabortion care, the quality of the facility they reach, and the qualifications (and tolerance) of the health provider. Methods of unsafe abortion include drinking toxic fluids such as turpentine, bleach, or drinkable concoctions mixed with livestock manure. Other methods involve inflicting direct injury to the vagina or elsewhere—for example, inserting herbal preparations into the vagina or cervix; placing a foreign body such as a twig, coat hanger, or chicken bone into the uterus; or placing inappropriate medication into the vagina or rectum. Unskilled providers also improperly perform dilation and curettage in unhygienic settings, causing uterine perforations and infections. Methods of external injury are also used, such as jumping from the top of stairs or a roof, or inflicting blunt trauma to the abdomen.”

    Source :https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2709326/#B1

    Oh wait,Liam say’s that this is all a “hoax.”

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    Mute Lily
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 5:19 PM

    Where’s the good ole knitting needle, that being the method of choice for most back street abortions.

    Saved many a woman from unwanted pregnancies.

    Anyone with any medical knowledge would know drinking bleach would do damage to your internal organs, abortion would only occur due to pain/trauma on the body from the bleach (no a direct result from bleach). A punch to the lower stomach would be more beneficial/ or a few… which was common place in Ancient times.

    * I love Ancient history I find it intriguing.

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    Mute Nick Drake
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 7:11 PM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: lol

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    Mute richard fennessy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:10 PM

    Telling women what to do with there bodies sounds like oppression Liam

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    Mute Fred Johnson
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 2:53 PM

    I hope the women who decided not to work today get the sack. Funny how they didn’t have a “protest day” at the weekend.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:04 PM

    So, let’s look at this. Hard right wing political movement seeks to impose even heavier controls on abortion. Right wing fundamentalist Roman Catholics is in full support of this hard right and repressive approach.

    Judge the institutional Roman Catholic Church but its allies.

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    Mute Con O Sullivan
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 5:14 PM

    @Micheal OLainn: What is a right wing fundamentalist, Is there no left wing fundamentalist . Since we are at it what is left wing and right wing .

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 8:24 PM

    Con, go back to sleep

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    Mute Dan Keane
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:41 PM

    Donning black is right – black to remember the dead babies.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:06 PM

    @Dan Keane: you are mistaken. Abortion prevents babies. You are confusing babies with foetuses.

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    Mute James Odin
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:12 PM

    Communist agitators who’ve little respect for how the system of government works.

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    Mute Conor Kennelly
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 3:42 PM

    @James Odin: Misogynist sexist who has little respect for women’s rights.

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    Mute Brian Lenehan
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 4:58 PM

    So, this article shows a few women wearing black and tries to make it out to be some sort of mass-protest. The only figure stated in the entire article is that showing how 450,000 pro-life people petitioned for a change to the laws to allow for the protection of vulnerable children.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 6:21 PM

    Their new laws would prevent women from receiving life saving treatment for say cancer if they were pregnant. Would you like that rule for your wife/daughter. If your wife was raped she would be forced to have her rapists baby would you bring it up? If your wife miscarries her baby she could be jailed for five years if they don’t believe her. If you are in favour of this you must examine when you started hating women and why.

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    Mute Brian Lenehan
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 6:57 PM

    Deborah, please give me an example, just one, of an Irish woman brought to court having being accused of aborting her child. It never happened, it never would. You know that though, don’t you?

    Abortion doesn’t undo a rape, but the child is the mothers’ child; the rapist has no rights over the child. The child herself has done nothing wrong, so why would you want to poison, starve or tear her apart for being the daughter of a rapist?
    And yes, of course I’d raise the child as my own.

    One problem with the wide availability of abortion and its treatment as a legitimate reproductive option is that it allows rapists off the hook… there are a great many cases of rapists, having a control over their victim (by being father, husband or other such relationship) forcing their victim to abort her child to cover up the offence. Where’s the choice there?

    Furthermore, abortion lets society off the hook. Society, and State, should be providing appropriate care and opportunities to women, young and old, to pursue career or education while raising a child. The wide availability of abortion removed that pressure on Government, making it more difficult for young mothers to actually get the supports that they need.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 9:36 PM

    @Brian Lenehan: “Deborah, please give me an example, just one, of an Irish woman brought to court having being accused of aborting her child. It never happened, it never would. You know that though, don’t you?”

    Is this a trick question?.
    Abortion terminates a pregnancy.No child is aborted. Did I get it right?

    “Abortion doesn’t undo a rape, but the child is the mothers’ child; the rapist has no rights over the child. The child herself has done nothing wrong, so why would you want to poison, starve or tear her apart for being the daughter of a rapist?”
    “And yes, of course I’d raise the child as my own.”"

    You are talking about your own family & your beliefs. Good luck to ye,but I hope that it never happens,

    “One problem with the wide availability of abortion and its treatment as a legitimate reproductive option is that it allows rapists off the hook… there are a great many cases of rapists, having a control over their victim (by being father, husband or other such relationship) forcing their victim to abort her child to cover up the offence. Where’s the choice there?”

    Can you provide the overall % of this .And it has to be credible.

    “Furthermore, abortion lets society off the hook. Society, and State, should be providing appropriate care and opportunities to women, young and old, to pursue career or education while raising a child. The wide availability of abortion removed that pressure on Government, making it more difficult for young mothers to actually get the supports that they need.”

    The majority of abortions are procured by women that are already mothers,or by women that have no intention of becoming one..
    You don’t like abortion,then don’t procure one.

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    Mute Tom Burke
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 10:01 PM

    Brian
    I support you in everything you say.
    A fundamental aspect of human rights and justice is that we don’t punish the innocent for the crimes of another.
    I completely understand the discomfort in bonding with a rapists baby but we don’t execute rapists. Why would we terminate the life of the child?

    But hey, this is a deflection.
    It’s a difficult situation but thankfully rare. It’s a deflection from a push to have abortion on demand.

    And Brian. I know you won’t be bullied
    but don’t. And Paul Fahey.
    What’s your issue with trying to occupy the moral high ground and calling BS as you see it?

    You accused me of defending paedophillia but went quiet when I asked for evidence.

    You are a straw man.
    You like the smart comments but there is little substance to you.

    A great man for an unsubstantiated accusation.

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    Mute Trisha Tully
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    Oct 5th 2016, 3:00 PM

    What are you doing at the moment Brian to protect vulnerable children who have been born? Or are you all talk & no action?

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    Mute Spiderman
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 5:20 PM

    A sex strike would have the desired effect, it’s ended wars

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    Mute Sam Palmer
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 5:29 PM

    Thought all the Polish were over here.

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    Mute Tom Lecki
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    Oct 3rd 2016, 8:48 PM

    British portals:”Poland abortion strike: Nearly six million women to protest restrictive laws” hahahah and the truth is ”Authorities in the capital said some 25,000 people marched through Castle Square in the city centre”- ah west media.
    I bet that Dublin’s cyclists strike today in city Centre was the bigger event

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