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Home » Opinion

Allow Irish women a mature choice

Contributed by Bridget Fitzsimons on Tuesday, 30 March 20108 Comments

Abortion has always been a topic that has provoked extreme reactions and a topic that I have always felt incredibly strongly about. Ever since I found out what abortion was, it struck me as strange that it is illegal in Ireland. Surely, a democratic country that allows its citizens to vote in a government, pay taxes and generally live their lives should allow said citizens to decide whether or not they wish to have a child?

Abortion, to me, is a human right. We are humans with free will in a grossly overpopulated world. Surely if a woman or couple decide that they do not wish to bring a child into this world, they should be offered a service by which they can safely and legally abort a foetus, without having to make the journey across the Irish Sea to avail of an abortion?

For me, abortion can only take place up until a certain point; I am not in favour of late-term abortions. Safe and legal abortion up until 24 weeks is something that every woman is entitled to. Why aren’t we campaigning for this louder? Pro-life activists fail to realise that pro-choice campaigners are not pro-abortion. I am not forcing anyone to have an abortion: I am simply asking that the choice is there. If someone does not agree with abortion and falls pregnant, they are perfectly within their right to carry their child to term, keep it, or give it up for adoption. I simply do not appreciate the mentality that it’s okay to make a woman or a couple feel like guilty criminals for making an informed choice about their lives.

Pro-life activists seem to think that prohibitive laws like the ones in Ireland will stop people from having abortions, but this is simply not the case. According to one pro-choice website, at least 123,258 women from the Republic have travelled to the United Kingdom for an abortion between 1980 and 2005. This figure only measures women who choose to give Irish addresses at abortion clinics, and women that have travelled to the UK. The real figure is probably a lot higher. With this in mind, surely it is time to repeal these laws? They are not stopping Irish women from getting abortions – they are, in fact, putting them in grave physical and psychological danger.

The problem of rogue crisis pregnancy agencies is rife in Ireland. Crisis pregnancy agencies are unmonitored by the government, meaning that rogue agencies can advertise services using psychological methods to dissuade a woman from terminating the pregnancy. Former ‘clients’ report being shown pictures of foetuses, encouraged to name their child, and told that the guilt of an abortion will consume them if they go ahead with it. These agencies thrive on governmental apathy towards women’s rights, and would not exist should proper legislation be written on crisis pregnancy agencies.

In legislating for abortions, the government would be helping numerous citizens. We cannot put faith in a country that does not allow us to make basic decisions that affect our lives so greatly. Personally, I feel let down by a government that has allowed the religious minority to dictate to me how I should live my life. In a true democracy, a pregnant woman should have all of the options and should be fully supported by the people she has voted into the Dáil, regardless of what option she chooses.

The current laws are incredibly extreme. Women who have abortions can go to jail for life, and there are no provisions in place for pregnancies that are the result of rape or incest, or for severely deformed foetuses that cannot live outside the womb. Our country denies our basic rights. To expect a woman to carry a baby that is the product of rape is not only negligent, but barbaric.

Ireland needs to move with the times. We live in an era that means that safe, sterile and legal abortion should be an option for all. We can no longer be slaves to those who wish to control our lives. I am not asking for forced abortion; I am simply asking for the opinions, rights and choices of people to be recognised. If TDs expect us to vote them into government, then they should be ready to represent us and our views. It is time that democracy truly meant choice in Ireland.

8 Comments »

  • Anna said:

    Exactly this! No person nor government has the right to force a woman to give birth if she doesn’t feel she has the resources (physical, emotional, financial, social) to do so.

    - 30 March 2010 at 4:25 pm
  • Wendy said:

    Good post. However, please don’t fall for the anti-choice red herring of “late-term abortions”. There is no demand for late-term abortions for unwanted pregnancies – this is borne out by the evidence from places where they are legal, such as Canada and some US states. If women are seeking abortions late in the pregnancy it is inevitably because of a threat to their health or a serious foetal abnormality, not because they just change their mind or don’t get around to it sooner.

    - 31 March 2010 at 12:19 pm
  • Conor Murphy said:

    That abortion is a ‘womens rights’ issue is a logical fallacy if you give the foetus any value at all. Which obviously you do from your position on late term pregnancies. My body my choice is obviously wrong if it’s something elses body as well. If its something with value (even a diminished value) we should approach this froma more logicall standpoint.

    Note: I am actually pro choice its just that this is not a feminist issue its a societal one.

    - 1 April 2010 at 4:31 pm
  • Colin said:

    Yes, I too am pro-choice. Choice for the couple, not just the woman, in terms of abortion (except in exceptional cases such as rape obviously)

    - 1 April 2010 at 5:09 pm
  • Bridget Fitzsimons, News Editor said:

    Conor, I actually call abortion a human right above, not just a woman’s right. I am in complete agreement with Colin that it is an issue for both parents of the foetus. I give value to something that can sustain itself outside of the womb, which is why I do not agree with late term abortions except in exceptional cases such as that which are outlined by Wendy. This is why I am fully in favour of safe and legal abortions in Ireland. While it is an issue for society and couples, the fact that it is happening to a woman’s body does bring it in under the women’s right’s sphere, but that does not mean that it does not fall under other categories also.

    - 1 April 2010 at 5:38 pm
  • Marcas Ó Cribín said:

    I’m curious. Both articles are online and yet people are only commenting on the stance they agree with.

    Bridget your piece was very interesting, and i really hope you and anyone else interested will come along to the conference on Friday. The discussion will be focussing on Women, Feminism and Abortion which is exacly what we are talking about here (there are 3 speakers who will each address these different aspects in a different way).

    I still dont get how is abortion a human right?

    sovereignty over bodily autonomy is perhaps an inherent right but are control is limited when we interfere with the lives of others. This interference must have a justified reason, one which is proportionate (thus abortion in self defence is reasonable and proportionate to the threat to the life of the mother).

    The universal declaration makes no reference to abortion as a right for women. It does however mention the right to life. The right to life is a fundamental right, which we all have as a human beings.

    So, is the foetus a human being? Does it have a right to life?

    Does the mother have any responsibility to the life which she helped create (she does after birth)?

    Also if you accept the premise that no one can force a woman to carry a child, what does it matter what the father thinks?

    - 6 April 2010 at 1:46 pm
  • Bridget Fitzsimons, News Editor said:

    Thanks for the comment Marcas. I think you can agree that this is the best way to air these issues, presenting ideas from both sides of the argument.
    As noted above, I refer to both women and couples. I do not call something that cannot survive outside of the body life. That is my personal view on it.
    My problem with the pro-life movement is that it is anti-choice. Abortion is not the choice for everyone. I do not know that if I was in that situation that it would be the choice for me. However, it is important that that choice exists. A democratic and fair country means that its citizens can avail of safe and legal abortion. The semantics of life are overriding the clear concept that people should not have to be parents if they do not want to be. Pregnancy happens and it often happens to people who take every precaution. These people should not be given a life sentence for engaging in a normal, human activity.
    No one is saying that abortion is an easy choice, but it is a choice that women and couples should be allowed avail of. The choice needs to be there, whether the individual chooses to have an abortion or not.

    - 7 April 2010 at 12:03 am
  • marcas Ó Cribín said:

    Oh I agree both sides are always good (which is what im hoping for at the conferences on thursday and friday). Only through mutual respect and understanding can we get anywhere on these important issues.

    You sat that you dont call the foetus alive because it is not outside the womb. As far as I can tell the biological and scientific fact is that it is an individual human life;
    “A zygote is the beginning of a new human being (i.e., an embryo).” (Keith L. Moore, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th edition. (Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2003). pp. 16, 2).
    “It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive…It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception.” (Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth Harvard University Medical School).

    If you are right then they are wrong. If its not what the scientists say it is, what is it?
    This isnt my personal view it is the facts as presented to me by science.

    You say that your problem with us “pro lifers” is that we are anti- choice. Thats like me saying my problem with the pro-choice movement is that it is anti-life, or pro abortion. Its all semantics. I understand that you are not anti life or pro abortion, but you have to understand that we are not anti choice.

    Abortion is a choice, yes, but whether it should be a legal choice is whats up for debate. The law limits our choice in alot of areas, the primary one being when we intend to harm another human being. Thus we are not “anti-choice” just anti-abortion (in the same way that you are pro abortion).

    A democratic and fair country means that its citizens enjoy certain fundamental rights, most importantly the right to life. Limiting and ignoring that right is anti democratic. Democracy doesnt mean we have a right to choose to do whatever we want even if it harms another human being.

    I also disagree with the concept that pregnancy is punishment or a “life sentence”. A human being has been created. Our society generally insists that we care for every human being, regardless of their unwantedness or physical abilities. Generally parents hold responsibility over their children, after birth that responsibilty can be passed on to someone else. It may be a normal, human activity but it is the normal, human way of concieving a child, thus when a child is concieved why is it considered a life sentence?

    I’m not saying people take abortion lightly, many women are in very difficuly circumstances and may feel it is their only option. I am trying to look at it from the fundamental legal side of things.

    Should we as a society be allowed take human life just because someone deems it “unwanted”? Should we not work harder to make abortion unnecessary (ie support women in difficult circumstances, protect and care for the vulnerable, mother and child)?

    - 8 April 2010 at 2:19 pm