Letters to the editor: Housing crisis also impacts reproductive rights

Lack of secure places to live violates reproductive rights

Amelia Goonerage from Dublin joins yes campaigners celebrating the vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment in 2018. Photo: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

In 2018, the people of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to remove the Eighth Amendment from the Constitution, securing people’s right to abortion care (albeit with limitations).

But reproductive rights go far beyond the right to abortion. People also have the right to have children and to parent these children in safe, secure environments. Lifting the ban on evictions will violate these rights. By the Government’s own admission, it will immediately increase the numbers of people who are homeless. This is on top of the c12,000 who already live in emergency accommodation and the hidden homeless living inter-generationally or with friends and family. Ending the eviction ban will also plunge tens of thousands of other renters into a state of fear and uncertainty about their future.