Sunday 21 August 2016

What I did this weekend....and what two other Irish women did this weekend

This weekend was another good weekend
 
On Saturday morning Enid and Ciaran called for breakfast (bringing starbucks).  Enid and I threw a dash of baileys into our starbucks, plus had a screwdriver so that was a nice start to the day!

We then went for a stroll up to Grafton Street.
Enid bought a nice outfit for Saturday night in the "new" Dunnes in Stephen's Green - it has had a beautiful makeover - and then we went to Brown Thomas specifically to go to their Christmas shop which opened this week.  Enid just LOVES Christmas and bought a lovely decoration for her tree.

That evening I went with my Dad to Ukulele Hooley in Dun Laoghaire. We had a lovely evening - a few drinks (me!) and some great amateur open mic ukulele players.  And then we hung on to hear the most phenomenal ukulele trio play an acoustic set.

This morning Katie called and we had breakfast

Then got the bus down to Smithfield Square

There was a great vibe on at the marker in the Generator Hostel

We had some nice lunch.  Just sweet potato fries. Just lovely!
 
While I was enjoying this really really lovely weekend, some Irish women out there were not.
 
#TwoWomenTravel
The hashtag #twowomentravel went live on Saturday morning at 5am in Dublin Airport where two Irish women were setting off to travel to the UK.  One of the women is travelling to have an abortion, the other woman is going with her to support her.
 
Abortion is not available within Ireland aside in a very (strict and) specific circumstance: within our constitution the Eighth Amendment equates the right to life of a pregnant woman with that of an embryo or foetus. In doing so it criminalises abortion in all cases except where to continue a pregnancy would result in death. 
 
Therefore if you (as an Irish woman) want or need an abortion one of your options is to travel to another country to have an abortion.  This to me is something that makes what is, I am sure, a difficult and traumatic choice to make, even more difficult and traumatic.
The other option that Irish women are doing is (illegally) ordering on the internet, pills to bring on an abortion.
Both "options" are incredibly unsafe for Irish women in my opinion.  And cruel things to make a fellow human to go through.  I strongly believe that the 8th Amendment needs to be repealed.  If you do too please sign the online petition here.

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