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A LARGE CROWD of demonstrators have turned out on the streets of Dublin for today’s March for Repeal.
Marking International Women’s Day, the march was held calling for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment.
The march was organised by the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment.
The crowd congregated at the Garden of Remembrance at 5.30pm this evening and marched through Dublin city centre calling for the Eighth Amendment to be scrapped.
On the Facebook page for the event, the group wrote: “We are calling on the Irish government to name the date for a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment.
“One year on since the last General Election and despite all the promises and commitments given we are no closer to a referendum date. This cannot be permitted to continue.”
The date of the vote has not been announced, nor has the wording for the referendum itself.
Politicians and student groups were amongst those marching this evening.
Luas reported significant delays to its Red and Green Line services this evening due to the march.
Luas / TwitterSignificant delays on both Red and Green Line services due to a protest march across the City Centre.
— Luas (@Luas) March 8, 2018
Wording of the Eighth Amendment
Earlier today, Cabinet agreed on the wording of what will replace the Eighth Amendment in the event that a vote to repeal it is passed.
In the event of a yes vote, the text of the amendment will be replaced by this line:
“Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancies.”
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There’s going to be a vastly larger pro-life demonstration on Saturday.
@Joseph Rooney: Is there? Grand so I’ll avoid the city centre so. thanks
@Joseph Rooney: I’m pro choice but good, in a healthy democracy, all sides should be able to air their views.
@Joseph Rooney: Confident the large silent majority in support of women’s rights will come out to protest on the one day that actually counts.
@Joseph Rooney: lol no there’s not
@Joseph Rooney: no doubt, it’ll be full of kids though and people flown in from the US to boost numbers. I bet a lot more actual voters were out today.
@Joseph Rooney: We’ll see. I wonder how big the pro choice crowd would be if their local parish was paying for coaches to bus them up to the protest.
@Joseph Rooney: There really won’t… there never has been…. there never will be. There numbers get fewer and fewer with each passing year. Thankfully they’ll soon be little more than a footnote in a dark part of our countries history.
@Brendan Heery: The press releases have been written to say there was eleventy million at it. They’ll probably get about 5k but the balloons will make it look like a large crowd.
@Joseph Rooney: Why must your side always lie? It’s so demonstrably false, so what is the point? It must get boring for you and the rest of the homeschooled creeps.
@Joseph Rooney: Even if there are more, it will likely because it is a Saturday. I wonder how many would turn out if the rally was on at the same time as the Women’s March.
@Kiera: Well my facebook feed is full of paid prolife adds, with all sorts of fearmongering videos (“watch nurse X testify how doctors murder babies by burning them alive!!!”). One wonders who pays for these adds? But similar strategy worked for Brexit, so I think pro-choice should strenghten their campain.
I’m pro life myself just because if abortion was available when my birth mam was preggers I probably would have been aborted instead of adopted. It’s a very simplistic view but before you do vote , think and wonder how many of your friends and family wouldn’t be alive if abortion was freely available over the years. On the other hand I recognise the need for it too in some cases. What ever happens I hope it’s used responsibly.
@Hardly Normal: nicely put!…
@Hardly Normal: but abortion is available. Thousands of Irish women are having abortions every year, most go to the UK but large numbers are taking pills which they buy on the internet. if this referendum fails then Irish women will continue to have abortions. If a woman wants an abortion then she will mostly likely have one. Exporting the issue to the UK shows a lot about us as a nation and how we treat our women,
@Hardly Normal: If they never existed I would be none the wiser! So, what’s your point?!! You can’t miss what you never had!!!
@Brian Madden: I agree with you, but it is only women who can afford to have an abortion can go to England. A young unemployed girl who was abused or raped has no choice.
@Brian Madden: I totally get that, I think the figure is 9 women a day travel on average and that probably is a terrible ordeal for them to go through, I can honestly say I have no idea.
I’m not totally against abortion I’m against the use of it freely. If it’s found the child is going to have disabilities and a crap quality of life then by all means we should be able to provide that level of care for the mother. The same goes if being pregnant is a risk to the mother’s life. But the use of it like a contraception. Some morning after pills work for up to 5 days after the event! You should probably recognise the need to take one within that time.
@Hardly Normal: I’m also adopted. Do you miss the friends you might have had but who already were aborted?? Your post is silly.
Some of the friends you currently have you only have because some of their mothers had abortions and went on to give birth to them.
@Hardly Normal: it’s an emotive vote, if you believe that woman who’s babies has a fatal fetal abnormality should have the option of terminating than vote to get rid of the 8th. The contraceptive issue is a paper tiger, what woman would prefer to undergo a painful termination surgical or in tablet form than take the pill or use comdoms?
@Mónica Pascoal: I suppose my point is me and thousands of others are here alive, walking, talking, breathing, living, doing our thing because abortion hasn’t been available in Ireland and I’m thankful for that!
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: I’m sorry, I can’t make head nor tail of your post. At least you could understand my ‘silly’ point.
@Hardly Normal: No, the thousands of you just got aborted in England, and that’s the whole point
@Hardly Normal. I think we need to trust women. Saying that they use it as a means of contraception is an insult. I would imagine that for the majority of women it is a harrowing experience and a decision that is not made lightly. I will never have to face a crisis pregnancy and will therefore leave the decision to the woman to decide what is best for her. I will be voting yes.
@Eoghan O’Murchú: and many of these women are resorting to buying pills online which is very dangerous and puts their life at risk.
@Hardly Normal: either would i, my mam being 16. However, if my mam would have aborted the pregnancy she wouldn’t have aborted me, she would have aborted the foetus that turned out to to be me. Same foetus could potentially have been twins as that can take 13 weeks.
However, i would have wanted my mam to have had the choice to do what she felt best because i trust her. No one is voting “for abortions”. The ideal future is for no one to have to make that choice. Sadly, life is not so black and white. Irish abortions have been happening a long time, just not in Ireland.
Either way though, I respect your opinion. And your choice.
@Hardly Normal: I understand how you feel about you….but you might want to rethink the “thousands of others” part of your comment.
@Brian Madden: fair enough , that’s your choice! To reiterate I’m not against abortion I’m against the use of it freely up to 12 weeks. That’s 33% of the term , that’s too big a figure for me.
@Brian Madden: Brian you are the first person I’ve heard use the word trust. We have to trust women to be make the choice that is right for them. If some women want to use abortion as contraception, a yes or no vote won’t matter. They will do it all the same. But in the end, it’s their choice. It’s about choice
@Hardly Normal: I respect your decision by voting no. It just means that Irish women will continue to travel and poorer women who can’t afford to travel and lots of young teenagers will buy abortion pills online out of desperation. We export the problem.
@Eoghan O’Murchú:
Well the morning after pill is available from pharmacies , for those with medical cards, I believe the price is €2.50
@Hardly Normal: bs post made by an anonynous account.
@Hardly Normal: thank you for your input. When I had a crisis pregnancy at 20 in 1996 and my boyfriend of four years decided “he wasn’t ready” emigrated and left me with “the problem”. I went to many “advice” services which turned out to be Catholic. I just wanted someone to talk to. I had the chance to abort but came to the lonely decision to keep my baby. I just want other women to have better counseling and be able to go home and think about it/discuss it. It’s not black and white. My daughter is 21 and for repeal. Give women a chance. Trust women.
@Bryan Whaley: hey bud my name is Fionn Bohane …
@Deborah Behan: that’s another thing, will the aftercare provided by the hse be sufficient?
I see your point and how different would your life be if you chose the other option. You seem proud of your kid, I imagine you’re happy with your decision!
It’s all the one to me as I’m out of the country and unfortunately don’t get to vote but whatever happens I just want it used responsibly and not so readily available as is being made out. I’m not totally against abortion. There has to be a reason other than ‘oh , I just don’t want it’ in my opinion.
@Hardly Normal: Why is not wanting to have a child not a good enough reason?
@Hardly Normal: please do some research! Women using abortion as a contraceptive? Are you kidding me? Easier than taking a pill or insisting on a condom? Would you like a line up women with unwanted pregnancies and hand pick who is ok to access abortion in Ireland? Are you willing to hand over your taxes for the next 18 years to support the poor women and immigrants who can’t afford to travel and are forced into parenthood? Please think your choice for these women all the way through.
@Hardly Normal: then you are absolutely not prolife. Abortion stops a beating human heart. No exceptions.
@Hardly Normal: I haven’t read any other comments beneath this so I don’t know if someone else has stated this. Typically, most abortions are medical, using pill which in essence, induce a miscarriage. The other option is surgical which is more expensive and painful. I’ve lost 5 pregnancies, 4 of which were miscarriage (last ectopic). They’re not fun! They are extremely painful and worrying and disruptive to your life. For a woman to choose to put themselves through either option over using contraception is a ridiculous concept. In the majority of cases, women who are having abortions have used contraception that has failed. Emergency contraception is incredibly restrictive in it’s effectiveness also so it is far from the holy grail to prevent pregnancy should contraception fail.
I just had to get that point across because it is worth understanding the realities and not just suck in the propaganda that women would be promiscuous and have regular abortions to deal with their dirty deeds.
@Mary King: and both options only work under very narrow circumstances. For instance, I’ve had an ectopic pregnancy, I can’t get the MAP because of this and have to go to a doctor or clinic to procure it and even then, they may decide in my case that it’s not suitable for me. There are other circumstances that reduce it’s effectiveness. A woman’s BMI is a factor too. It is less effective if you are overweight and when I say overweight, I don’t mean by much so what do those women do? Whether you have a medical card or not, it still may not be a viable option for every woman.
@Hardly Normal: There was 7 children in our house and me being the 2nd youngest. abortion or not i wouldn’t be around today only for large famlies back in the 60′s.
@Sean Conway: That would have been more around the restrictions of contraception. The ban on contraceptives wasn’t lifted until 1972 in Ireland. I’m sure many people in Ireland wouldn’t be here if better contraception was available. My own grandmother died having my father, her 10th child. She shouldn’t have had any more children but in the 50s, no contraception, no abortion, what choice did she have, and she died. I get the whole “well if that were the case, your father wouldn’t have been born and therefore you wouldn’t be here” but there are lots of things in the world that would or would not have happened and it’s pointless considering it. That last part is not targeted at you but anyone that might say so in response to this comment.
@Brian Madden: No logic in the idea that we should allow abortions here just because women will travel elsewhere or take pills otherwise. We don’t adopt barbaric practices just because they exist elsewhere!
I’m liberal and for Yes. But I regret to say that I’ve become used to The Journal ‘s totally unbalanced coverage of this issue. 5th rate journalism !
@Randal McNally: Vote no so if you are such an easily swayed imbecile.
@Randal McNally: will you feel the same when they cover the save the 8th march? I think not.
Did they not hear that we are going to have a vote on it…
@JimmyMc: But when is the question?
Poor turnout.
I’ve seen more nuns on polling day.
@David Sinclair: it’s Thursday. Most pro choicers are young employed people.
Most anti choicers are elderly and retired yet they’re meeting on Saturday.
@JJ O Riordan:
Well done. Up there with’ the dog chewed my homework’
@David Sinclair: No. It was a pretty good turnout. Several thousand. Hard to be sure how many though.
@David Sinclair: I was at work. Everybody at work that I discussed it with are voting to repeal. Watch the age range at the anti choice march in Saturday. Nice try
@JJ O Riordan: where is your statistics to back up that? Pro choices (not anti choicers) are all ages!
@JJ O Riordan: i cannot wait to see the people saying their prayers ,the young and the old playing games with the balloons, & of course,the elderly folks getting a day out…love it..
@Melissa Wallace: statistics? They are in literally every poll carried out in the last year! Every poll shows majority of under 35s want to repeal and majority of over 65s don’t.
@David Sinclair: I know many people that are for repeal that couldn’t go, me included. Given that it was a Thursday evening and many people would still be in work or just leaving work at that time, as well as the many students that are for repeal who work weekday evenings, it is not a true reflection. Given those issues, I was impressed with the turnout and was only gutted that I couldn’t make it in the end.
@Are roo from Cork: it’s idiotic uneducated comments like that from hipsters that drive the middle ground towards voting to retain.
@Are roo from Cork: Don’t be part of the problem in today’s politics by smearing opponents with irrelevant insults and generalisation. 90% of pro-choice people I know are atheists who simply want to save lives.
Only hundreds thought there would be thousands on such a match…….
@John003: Yeah I was at it… there was several thousand. They’ve changed the headline now.
@Brendan Heery: considering it was a working day, it was a hell of a turnout
@John003: On a Thursday evening in March? We’re not all pensioners with free travel, able to drop everything for a trip to the city!
Hundreds? Really journal? Really? Talk about a fake news headline.
Was at it myself. The writer must not have been in attendance since there was clearly several thousand there. Could never have been mistaken for a few hundred.
@Brendan Heery: I see they’ve changed the headline already.
@Ian McGahon: McGuirk was whinging that the crowd was small… But then, he’s easily led and confused these days.
http://www.broadsheet.ie/2018/03/08/a-pro-life-pattern
@Brendan Heery: was a great atmosphere. Loved the mix of young people, parents for choice and the lovely grandparents for choice. I really felt things are changing and was so proud to be there with my own daughter.
@Deborah Behan: Fair play Deborah. Had every plan to go myself but couldn’t in the end due to family commitments. I am not alone in that. Given the time it was on, many like me were supporting you from home!
Big march in Cork City Centre today also at Lunchtime.
Also a very big crowd in galway.
I am pro-life basically because its too close to home for me not to be. I was the product of a one night stand in the late 1970′s and my mum was pressured to go to Liverpool on the boat and have me taken care of, by her own sisters. Thankfully she didnt and it was a much harder choice for her back then than it would be now. But thats beside the point. There are no arguments that can square away the ending of a life for me, its probably just too close to home but I do recognize there are very many more stories than mine, and tales of heartache from women too. It is probably inevitable at this stage that the 8th will be repealed, it will happen sooner or later. Ive just about come to terms with that even though it doesnt sit well with me for deeply personal reasons. I just hope a few things happen really in the aftermath of the referendum if it is passed.
1. I truly hope the government legislate correctly and give some form of protection to the unborn fetus, having no constitutional rights once the 8th is removed to me is a scary prospect, even more so as my wife is currently pregnant. The legislation should in my opinion protect the fetus from any person or outside agency other than the mother or an assigned medical practitioner who she has consented to perform an abortion…all other outside agencies or persons who harm a fetus either intentionally or by accident it should be a criminal offense…the government should be lobbied forcefully to legislate for this.
2. I hope there is a greater emphasis on discussing and education in relation to sexual relationships between women and men, a greater discussion about it, and the responsibilities both sexes have towards each other and the potential for pregnancy…so in the event that abortion is made legal, we damn well sure use it as little as possible. A greater discussion around sex needs to happen anyway in my opinion, because there is an ever growing problem that is rearing its head around the issues of consent, implied consent etc…and too many grey areas where people both men and women are vulnerable now, where they were never before. It is reaching a tipping point and frank and honest discussions need to take place that protect and inform and take away these doubts both for men and women, and it has to centre around responsibility as well as rights. Rights mean nothing without the responsibilities we need to attach to them, and both men and women need to take their responsibilities much more seriously when it comes to our relationships with one another.
3. I just hope that people on both sides will be able to see that the issues are not just one side good…the other side evil…and polarization of society all the way down to friends and family groups doesnt take place. I know personally of a group of friends who are split down the middle on this and are being unbelievably vicious and cruel to each other over the sides of this debate they fall on. Ive seen it on here too, how people behave when they see a differing view point, its like white blood cells attacking a virus…kill it…kill it before it spreads. People need to realize that most of us hold our beliefs for very personal reasons, and it because we hate somebody or want to harm them…and this debate is about wanting to stop harm…just each side has a different victim of the harm.
Whatever the decision of the majority is, that is the choice and the voice of this country and we all need to abide by that. There should be no censorship, no proclaiming somebody as evil just for a point of view, and attacking somebody because their opinions are different makes you no better than a mindless thug, and you should truly be ashamed of yourself…be you pro-choice or pro-life….that has to stop. We need to listen most of all…and not speak to attack, but to exchange what we truly feel, and why and cut out the rhetoric and ideology and religious dogma from the conversation, so maybe we can all maybe become a little wiser.
Also a very big crowd in galway.
@Gregory Curtis: It’s wonderful to see how on international women’s day there are still fools like you wandering around the place making comments based on women’s appearances. Do you really not have better things to be doing, such as working on your awful personality and bad manners?
What will happen if the hipsters don’t win? Will there be a repeal of the repeal?
@Stevie Doran: if the pro-choice side lose then thousands of women will continue to travel abroad for abortions every year and presumably the fight will go on. It’s inevitable that the 8th will be repealed, sooner or later. In the meantime there well over 100000 women alive in Ireland today that have had abortions. You probably know a few!
@Gareth Murphy: perhaps many more kids walking around as a result of it’s existence?
@Sean @114: and how many of those to parents who didn’t want them? How many were born into addiction? How many were born into abusive families? How many were born into poverty? Are they better options for these children?
@Kiera: so are you imposing criteria for having children now Kiera. So you have to have a 3 bed semi, 60K a year job and no criminal record to have a child. That’s what happens in communist China. Many of us were born into difficult circumstances Kiera and you know what, we did ok. That’s life, it’s wrong to deny anyone the right to live it.
@Sean @114: I never said anything of the sort. You came up with that on your own! I was also born into difficult circumstances. I was very much the ‘surprise’ pregnancy to my parents in a very difficult time in my parents lives when they had 2 kids already and were financially penniless and facing eviction. The idea of having another child was the worst thing possible at time but there was no choice but to go ahead. I’m here and that’s fine but I totally understood if it were available to her, that my mother would possibly have considered an abortion. Once I was born, their financial issues worsened, they were evicted and we were essentially poverty stricken for years after as they tried to pick up the piece. Yes, we did ok in the end but that isn’t necessarily the case for everyone who finds themselves in similar situations. I personally know people who have had their kids taken away because of similar circumstances and couldn’t cope and the kids have never recovered from that.
@Kiera: you do realise that people’s circumstances can drastically change for the worse once the child is born. You seem to be advocating abortion as a lifestyle choice as it is in the US. A horrendous prospect and as you know I am in favour of repeal.
@Sean @114: I am confused. In your previous post to Kiera you say ‘I am not in favor of taking life’ or words to that effect In your very next post you say ‘I am in favour of Repeal Do you still not know that Repeal means an abortion law to bring in abortion up to 12 weeks gestation without specific indication, ie no need to give any reason. Will that not mean the taking of life? Be consistent
Why do they have to block traffic?
Im no good with numbers Ted, but id say there’s at least a million there today!
Ask the women from the magdalena laundries how they feel. Government has no right to anybodys body and the church should not be allowed near this issue. Only women ought to vote on this issue as men haven’t got a clue what women go through once they get pregnant.
@Noel Whelan: I agree up to a point but men absolutely have a right to vote and be heard on this. It affects them in that this affects the women and girls in their lives. You’re right that there would be a large majority of men that do no know what women go through but in support of the women and girls in their lives, they should vote with how they think this will affect them and in support of them.
10:29:13✌
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