{"id":18550,"date":"2018-06-19T22:31:10","date_gmt":"2018-06-19T14:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinaworker.info\/?p=18550"},"modified":"2018-09-14T15:21:27","modified_gmt":"2018-09-14T07:21:27","slug":"landslide-vote-to-repeal-irelands-abortion-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2018\/06\/19\/18550\/","title":{"rendered":"Landslide\u00a0vote to repeal\u00a0Ireland\u2019s abortion laws"},"content":{"rendered":"

Statement by Solidarity \/ Socialist Party Members of Parliament, Ruth Coppinger, Paul Murphy and Mick Barry<\/strong><\/p>\n

A massive 66.4 percent voted\u00a0\u2018Yes\u2019 in the\u00a025 May\u00a0referendum,\u00a0to overturn the ban on abortion (\u20188th Amendment\u2019). This\u00a0is a political earthquake and turning point for\u00a0Ireland.<\/p>\n

It is a huge victory, particularly for women in\u00a0Ireland, who have thrown off the oppression of the 8th Amendment after 35 years. No delay can now be justified. There is nothing to stop the Dail [Irish parliament] to move quickly to enact legislation to give effect to the proposals from the\u00a0parliamentary committee\u00a0[which proposed the right of abortion up until the 12th week of pregnancy].\u00a0No more people should suffer.<\/p>\n

This is part of a global feminist and LGBTQ revolt against longstanding discrimination and this victory will be a huge boost to all those fighting oppression and for real equality right throughout the world. In particular, women and pregnant people in Latin America who literally die through lack of abortion rights will be empowered by this result.<\/p>\n

This is also a victory delivered primarily by young people, the generation often disparaged as \u201csnowflakes\u201d. They were the ones who said enough was enough and made this an issue, particularly after the tragic and unnecessary death of Savita Halappanavar [who died of sepsis in 2012 after being denied an abortion during a protracted miscarriage]. It was young women who refused to go along with the hypocrisy of the \u201cIrish\u00a0solution to an\u00a0Irish\u00a0problem\u201d and demanded and organised to force this change on a petrified and reluctant political establishment.<\/p>\n

It must also be said and said loudly, that once again, as was the case with the\u00a0[non-payment] movement which defeated\u00a0water charges and the Marriage Equality\u00a0referendum, the working class was the \u201csecure foundation\u201d as James Connolly once put it, of this enormous social change. [Connolly was a labour movement pioneer and Marxist executed by Britain in 1916].<\/p>\n

Because of lived experience, a sense of solidarity is innate to the working class. It is the force pushing forward progress in this country, as was witnessed during the campaign and will be demonstrated by the size of the votes in working-class communities.\u00a0[Local results were announced after this statement was written: Dublin voted 75.5 percent \u2018Yes\u2019, other cities had similar \u2018Yes\u2019 majorities]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There was a broad official \u2018Yes\u2019 campaign, and then within that, there was an independent grassroots movement that unfolded over the last years, months and weeks. It was this movement that made the decisive difference, including answering the outrageous scaremongering and lies of the No side.<\/p>\n

This victory was also framed in large measure over the last years by those who have been the most ardent proponents of the right to choose, socialists and those of the left. Until very recently, Solidarity \u2013 People Before Profit was the only political entity in\u00a0parliament\u00a0fighting for abortion rights, and with a clear pro-choice position.<\/p>\n

There is a huge difference between some who voted \u2018No\u2019 and then the organizers of the \u2018No\u2019 campaign. The \u2018No\u2019 campaign gave a frightening glimpse of the type of\u00a0Ireland\u00a0the self-styled religious right would like us all to live under. Dripping in misogyny, the no campaign spread suspicion about women and portrayed them as selfish killers and murderers. Their shaming and blaming of women from the start to the finish is completely unacceptable and devoid of morals.<\/p>\n

Many felt increasingly vulnerable and less safe as their rhetoric was ratcheted up. They and their backward ideas have been rejected in this\u00a0referendum. The fact that the majority of the public representatives of Fianna Fail [the main opposition right-wing party] were part of this campaign should not and will not be forgotten by people.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0referendum\u00a0vote has implications for\u00a0Northern\u00a0Ireland\u00a0[a separate state, ruled by Britain],\u00a0where women and young people will not accept being left behind. Already in the North, ROSA activists are launching a major campaign to demand abortion rights there, starting with a Bus4Choice that will travel throughout the North next week with abortion pills, which have been proven to be safe.<\/p>\n

What this resounding vote must lead to is the prompt passing of the legislation in\u00a0parliament\u00a0and provision for the necessary services and care through the health service to allow for abortion for 12 weeks on request and for health. The Solidarity Bill on Sex Education should be passed. Free contraception must now be provided in the health service and promoted in society.<\/p>\n

For this to happen, the political establishment needs to be kept under pressure by the grassroots movement. Remember we had to wait more than five years after Savita died before we finally had a\u00a0referendum, the same must not happen\u00a0now.<\/p>\n

Young people were the key dynamic that created this victory against oppression and for control over their own bodies. With this under their belts it is not a matter of if, but when, will they act against an increasingly oppressive and pressurized education system; on the fact that they cannot get jobs with decent pay and conditions; that they cannot afford to rent or buy a decent place to live.<\/p>\n

Leo Varadkar [Irish\u00a0prime minister] may get a boost from this result, having jumped onto the right side of history at the last minute. But he, Fine Gael [the right-wing governing party] and any other party that defends and implements capitalist policies will face the full force of the youthquake that is coming. That is because they have no solutions to these burning issues and cannot satisfy the deep desire for justice and equality which is decisively pushing younger generations towards left and socialist ideas in many countries like America, Britain and Spain and, after yesterday\u2019s vote, in\u00a0Ireland, too.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0members of the\u00a0Irish\u00a0parliament\u00a0for Solidarity and long-standing members of the Socialist Party [Irish\u00a0section of the CWI], we have a long record on these issues and fighting for the right to choose. We are proud to have been part of ROSA\u2019s Time4Choice campaign which brought a real cutting edge to the \u2018Yes\u2019 side in the\u00a0referendum\u00a0campaign and facilitated the development of the grassroots movement. This movement and ROSA are not going to go away, and aim to become a major socialist feminist force fighting for a radical transformation of this country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ireland\u00a0abortion\u00a0referendum\u00a0facts:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Eligible voters: 3.5 million<\/p>\n

Turnout: 64 percent \u2013 the highest ever for a\u00a0referendum\u00a0in\u00a0Ireland<\/p>\n

Yes vote: 66.4 percent<\/p>\n

Yes vote among men: 65 percent<\/p>\n

Yes vote among women: 70 percent<\/p>\n

Yes vote among under-25s: 87 percent<\/p>\n

Yes vote among LGBT votes: 91 percent (estimate by CNN)<\/p>\n

On May 22, 2015,\u00a0Ireland\u00a0became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage through a popular vote, with over 60 percent voting yes in a\u00a0referendum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Statement by Solidarity \/ Socialist Party Members of Parliament, Ruth Coppinger, Paul Murphy and Mick Barry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":18551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[148,124],"tags":[12039,12037,1306,230,1892,12041,2808],"class_list":{"0":"post-18550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international","8":"category-news","9":"tag-8th-amendment","10":"tag-abortion-laws","11":"tag-feminism","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-referendum","14":"tag-savita-halappanavar","15":"tag-socialism"},"yoast_head":"\nLandslide\u00a0vote to repeal\u00a0Ireland\u2019s abortion laws - China Worker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2018\/06\/19\/18550\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Landslide\u00a0vote to repeal\u00a0Ireland\u2019s abortion laws - 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