Repeal Project Compares Plight Of Women Seeking Abortions To Suspected Witches In 1600s
Ireland’s 8th Amendment has banned abortion in the country since 1983, and a single exception for the life of the mother was added in 2013. Now, a new campaign is hoping to change these laws. Â
A video released by the The Repeal Project brings to light the unreasonable lengths some Irish women go to have abortions. Referencing the witch trials of the 1600s, the project compares the attempted drowning of witches to the international travel necessary to end a pregnancy.
The Repeal Project is backed by the Abortion Rights Campaign, which has a petition for Irish citizens who want to repeal the 8th Amendment.
According to the Irish Family Planning Association, which provides services similar to Planned Parenthood, about 5,000 Irish women travel out of the country to access abortion every year.
Abortion in Ireland is only legal when the life of the mother is at risk, including if she is at risk of suicide.
The Irish abortion situation is addressed in the documentary “Vessel.” Vessel is about Women on Waves, an organization that uses boats and drones to get the abortion pills to women in countries where the procedure is illegal.Â
Ireland’s abortion law is so restrictive that the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has set up a hotline to help women who have illegally obtained abortion pills.Â
The UN has also condemned Ireland’s ban, finding earlier this year that a woman “was subjected to discrimination and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment as a result of Ireland’s legal prohibition on abortion.”
Two Irish women made international headlines earlier this summer by live-tweeting one woman’s journey to get an abortion through the account @TwoWomenTravel.Â