Feminist Open Forum call for X case legislation for abortion to be implemented now

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Friday December 17, 2010 12:11 by Maura - Feminist Open Forum

Rally for women's right to choose beind called by the Feminist Open Forum highlighting the results of the ABC showing the failure of the Irish State towards women and abortion rights.

The Feminist Open Forum will hold a demonstration alongside other activist groups at the GPO this Saturday advocating for abortion legislation in line with X case judgement. The rally is in concurrence with the results of the successful ABC case that took place this week at the European Court of Human Rights. The Rally will take place this Saturday at the GPO from 1pm.

Legislate Now
Thursday’s decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of ABC v Ireland is an important victory for Irish women in their fight to secure their right to access abortion in their own country. In particular the ECHR unanimous criticism of the Irish government’s failure to provide legislation in line with the X case Judgement, highlights decades of political cowardice and active negligence by the state.

The experiences of the three Irish women in the ABC case reveal something of the daily reality faced by thousands of Irish women who are forced to travel abroad for abortions. Since 1980 at least 140,000 women have been forced to travel to the UK and beyond to access safe abortion services.

Yet the Irish state has frequently used injunctions to prevent individuals from travelling abroad for abortion, active sabotaging women’s health decisions. As recently as 2007, a 17-year-old girl in the custody of the Health Services Executive had to go to court to get permission to travel to the Britain for an abortion.

Organisations that provide information on how to access abortion services abroad face restrictions on when and how this information can legally be conveyed, under threat of penalties and nothing is done to prevent "rogue" agencies from circulating blatantly misleading and false information.

Abortion is a reality for Irish women; Ireland’s abortion rate is comparable to other European countries where abortion is illegal. Yet its illegal nature in Ireland forces women to hide out of fear, shame or criminal prosecution. Opinion polls show that the majority of Irish people are in favour of more open abortion laws. Indeed, Irish people have never been given the opportunity to vote in favour of abortion but in recently years despite numerous attempt to further restrict abortion rights, have consistently voted against these restrictions.

Today’s judgment is a step forward for Irish women, but it is only the beginning:

We call on the government to immediately legislate for abortion in line with X case judgement. There should be no question of a further referendum. There have been two referendums on the X case judgment and in both case the electorate rejected the government’s attempts to further restrict abortion.
We call on the Labour Party to make this legislation a core demand of their programme of government.
We recognise that legislation in line with the X case is only the beginning. The majority of women who choose to have an abortion do so not because their life it at risk. These reasons are different, complicated and unique to each particular woman. Therefore, only a change in the law that allows for free, safe and legal abortion can account for this diversity.

Contact Details:

Email:
feministopenforum@gmail.com

rally_for_choice_poster.pdf 0.03 Mb