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Samantha: No, we’ve both been to a few.Why did you feel compelled to come down here tonight?
Pranav: It’s a disgrace, isn’t it? The whole thing’s a disgrace. There’s no other way to describe it. This is systematic murder.
Samantha: I just don’t understand how they get away with calling themselves "pro-life" when women are dying.
Pranav: I don’t understand – I thought doctors were supposed to do no harm, no matter what. This was a medical need.
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Hazel: As an Irish woman who's emigrated from Ireland to the UK, it’s really important to be here and I’m delighted that so many people actually turned up. Pro-life groups are extremely hypocritical when they talk about limiting women’s rights, then cut things like grants to single parents and make it harder for that young life when it does actually enter the world. When women decide to terminate pregnancies, it’s because they're making a choice that’s best for the child. If you can’t afford to bring a child up – or whatever your reason is – it shouldn’t be the state’s role to decide for you: it should be your own choice.What do you want specifically from the Irish government?
We’re not even talking about the right for abortion in this case, we’re talking about legislation for the X Case in Ireland, which has been passed by the Irish supreme court. The X Case says that if the woman’s life is in danger, she should be able to have an abortion. The European Court of Human Rights called it a "violation of women’s rights" for the government’s failure to legislate for the X Case, and they still haven’t done it.Now you have women in Ireland actually dying because of the government's failure to implement the X Case, despite the European Court of Human Rights, the Supreme Court in Ireland and two referendums of the Irish people demanding they do so. As a woman living in the UK, I’m entitled to free contraception, I’m entitled to the right to choose and I’m supported so much more than if I was back home as an Irish woman, and I think that’s a disgrace.
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Amelia: It’s awful that it takes a tragedy to bring us together like this, but it's been really great. Pro-choice protests are usually maybe 10 of you gathered together because you want to support the cause but you don’t really know how. But the fact that this number of people came out really shows that there’s a huge underground pro-choice movement and people are now saying enough is enough.A more open and active pro-choice movement can grow out of the tragedy that’s occurred and I think that’s really positive. It’s not fair at the moment. If you’re born in Northern Ireland, you can’t have an abortion. If you’re born in Scotland, you’re fine. Why is that fair? My family is from Ireland and it’s terrifying to think that if I was born in Ireland and wanted to have an abortion, I'd have nowhere to go. And, unfortunately, we saw the consequences of that problem realised last week.Follow Rebecca on Twitter: @RebeccaCFitzMore on abortion:Women on Waves, Bringing Abortions to a Pro-Life Nation Near YouTotally Abortion!Fact: Gay Marriage Kills BabiesThis Is Her Abortion