The Abortion Pill Bus, which will carry abortion pills, currently not legally available in Ireland, will be in Galway city tomorrow [Friday October 23] to raise issues of reproductive rights and the repeal of the controversial 8th Ammendment of the constitution.
The Abortion Pill Bus will be at the Spanish Arch, tomorrow at 1pm. It is organised by Reproductive Rights against Oppression Sexism and Austerity, Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Ruth Coppinger, and in conjunction with the Dutch based organisation WomenOnWeb.org, run by pro-choice doctors.
According to Dep Coppinger, the bus "will express the growing opposition to Ireland’s ban on abortion". A Sunday Times opinion poll in August of this year found 63 per cent were in favour of a referendum to widen access to abortion in the lifetime of the next Dáil; while a Red C poll commissioned by Amnesty International Ireland found that 67 per cent believed the Government should decriminalise abortion.
"Unfortunately the political establishment is behind the times on this," said Dep Coppinger. "More than 16,000 women have had to travel to England over the last four years of the Labour/Fine Gael government. Despicably, the legislation this Government passed in 2014 further criminalised women who access an illegal abortion in Ireland, with a potential sentence of up to 14 years in prison."
ROSA member Diana O'Dwyer said, "As a General Election approaches we are sending a message to the political establishment – women cannot and will not wait any longer for health and human rights – we demand a referendum to repeal the 8th."
The Abortion Pill Bus will have a private consultation room in which any woman who wishes can have an online consultation via Skype with a WomenOnWeb doctor. The bus will also carry abortion pills. There will also be a rally with speakers from a range of national and local organisations.
