The pro-choice Abortion Rights Campaign has launched “10 days of abortion rights action” in an effort to get legislation introduced before the summer.
At a press conference in Dublin yesterday, spokeswoman Sinéad Redmond said there were 142 days until the Oireachtas summer recess. “That’s 142 days when women’s lives in this country are at danger.”
As part of the campaign, 30,000 postcards reading “Greetings from Ireland, failing to take action on abortion since 1992. Legislate for X” will be sent to TDs and Senators.
The group urged the Government to ensure that suicide be included in any legislation as a grounds for abortion, saying its exclusion would be “highly discriminatory”.
Appeals process
Also, should a woman’s application for an abortion be declined, there needed to be a “simple, clear and accessible appeals process”.
Rachel Donnelly from the Galway Pro-Choice Campaign said a woman who needed an abortion should be able to get one regardless of whether she lived in Dublin or rural Donegal.
She demanded a more liberal abortion policy than the one under consideration by the Government but admitted “it’s probably legally impossible to legislate past the X case”.
The 10 days of action starting on March 1st will involve events and demonstrations around the country.
