Irish Women Walked Out of Their Jobs to Protest the Country’s Abortion Laws

Today, on International Women's Day, Irish women walked out of their jobs and classes in Dublin and other cities to protest the country's strict anti-choice laws.

The 8th Amendment, passed in 1983, grants personhood status to fetuses and outlaws abortion—Irish women who have an abortion face up to 14 years in prison even in the cases of rape, incest, and where the fetus won't survive outside the womb because of an abnormality. A total ban on abortion was only lifted In 2013 when terminations were permitted if a woman's life is in danger. The year before, a woman named Savita Halappanavar asked for an abortion at a Galway hospital when she learned she was miscarrying, but they refused. She contracted an infection and died one week after being admitted.

It's estimated that 12 women travel from Ireland to Great Britain every day to terminate a pregnancy, adding to the burden on that country's healthcare system. UK abortion provider Marie Stopes International recently announced that it would start prioritizing patients referred by Britain's National Health Service over women coming from Ireland. Fittingly, today's protesters chanted: "34 years since '83, stop sending women across the sea."

In 2014, the country also refused an abortion for a rape victim and asylum-seeker who'd become suicidal; she could not afford to leave the country went on a hunger strike and was told she could terminate but the termination was postponed multiple times. She eventually delivered the baby by caesarean section. Other women who can't afford to travel take the risk of buying abortion pills online, which are also illegal, and hope that they don't have complications that would require seeing a doctor. Last year, the UN Human Rights Committee called on the Irish government to reform its laws but it has yet to do so.

Organizers from the group Strike 4 Repeal said their rally was inspired by massive protests in Poland which led the government to vote against a proposed abortion ban. Organizer Avril Corroon told The Independent that Irish women were encouraged to not go to work if that was possible but if not, to wear black (just like the women in Poland) and walk out of their jobs or university classes at 12 pm to join lunchtime rallies.

Strike 4 Repeal estimated that 5,000 people packed the O'Connell Bridge today, bringing traffic to a standstill. Black clad protesters also gathered outside the Irish embassy in London.

After sundown, there was a second demonstration with an estimated 10,000 people in attendance.

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