Readers' blog: Only women have right to decide on their bodies
I can no longer stay silent on the issue of the Eighth Amendment.
In 2015, on cold evenings and in the bitter rain, I stood on people’s doorsteps stopping short of literally asking them was it OK if I could marry the person I love by having their yes vote, and some people I clearly recall often said “They’ll think about it”. Those words I remember so well.
Do you know what the most frustrating thing about it all is?
Those same people didn’t stand in my shoes and didn’t live my life, not to mention the issue could have easily affected their sons, daughters, friends.
Thanks largely in part to Ireland’s women, we passed such a historical piece of human rights legislation that was widely welcomed by a progressive Ireland.
But there’s one last bastion of a more conservative Ireland in a time gone by that we now need to rid this small but great country from.
Our women who travel daily for abortion healthcare need Ireland’s LGBT community to now stand with them to remove the restrictive Eighth Amendment by voting yes in May. How could I vote in the upcoming referendum against a women’s bodily autonomy and dictate what she should or should not be doing with her body?
Wouldn’t that be hypocrisy at its best?
As a progressive nation we must do all we can to remove this obstacle of control that came from an era in Irish society that most would prefer not to look back on. I will be voting yes, because after all, I don’t stand in women’s shoes and I strongly believe in their safety, health, and wellbeing.
Let’s hope that this May we get a dry month for door knocking.
Carew Park
Limerick
