Students joined thousands of protestors today for the annual March for Choice, demanding “free, safe and legal” access to abortion rights ahead of the introduction of abortion legislation to the Dáil this Thursday. The ongoing struggle for abortion access in Northern Ireland also loomed large over proceedings.
Dublin’s streets were bathed in sunlight as around 4,000 protestors gathered at the Garden of Remembrance before proceeding onto O’Connell St, with chants of “the North is next” and “remember who you represent, 66.4 per cent” ringing out.
The mood was celebratory – albeit tempered by the recognition that there is much left to be achieved.
Students from both north and south of the border gathered in Trinity’s Front Square before the march, with union officers from Queen’s University Belfast Students’ Union (QUBSU) speaking on the steps of the Exam Hall about the need to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland.
Speaking to The University Times, Sinead Henry, the Welfare Officer of QUBSU, said the union’s goal was to “ensure that people are aware in the South that there’s still an ongoing battle in the North”.
“There’s going to be a point where people are crossing that border to seek abortion and reproductive health. At the minute we’re really campaigning for decriminalisation in the north”, she said.
Aisling Cusack, the Vice-President for Equality and Citizenship of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), led the student delegation from Trinity to the Garden of Remembrance. Speaking to The University Times, Cusack said: “USI has always been an all-island organisation. The Students for Choice campaign was always an all-island campaign.”
“Repealing the eighth was one objective of that, but we’re still going to be campaigning for abortion access until it’s available across the entire country”, she said.
Speaking to The University Times, President of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Shane De Rís – who gathered in Front Square along with around 60 students including several union officers from Queen’s University Belfast Students’ Union – said: “Although the fight to repeal the eighth has ended, the battle for bodily autonomy rages on. Trinity has a high proportion of students from the North of Ireland who have not been afforded the same rights that women and trans people have been afforded in Ireland. So it’s important that Students for Choice, an all-island organisation, continue to fight for choice.”
Speaking to The University Times at the march, Minister for Health Simon Harris, who will bring the legislation to the Dáil this week, said: “It’s an inevitability that Northern Ireland has to address this issue. It is now the only part of the UK, and the only part of the island of Ireland, that won’t look after women’s healthcare in their own area.”
Harris said he hopes the march “will inspire a whole generation of people in Northern Ireland to stand up for their rights. What we saw down in the Republic of Ireland was that people were ahead of their politicians – I include myself in that”.
Speaking to The University Times, Conchúir Ó Raidaigh, a member of Take Back Trinity who was recently arrested during the eviction of protestors from the occupation of North Frederick St, said: “We have the delivery of the legislation now after a landslide victory for choice and equality, but the issue’s not over yet.”
Ó Raidaigh said the three-day waiting period for abortions, which is included in the proposed legislation, is a “frankly misogynist measure from the government to keep pro-lifers appeased”.
The proposals currently require a 72-hour period to elapse before a termination within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The mood at this year’s march was markedly different from last year, when more than 30,000 people gathered on Dublin’s streets in September demanding a repeal of the eighth amendment. Students have always been at the heart of the movement demanding change, with former TCDSU President Kevin Keane making the issue a cornerstone of his tenure.
Speaking to The University Times today, Keane said: “This event today feels like the bookend on a very long campaign. But more importantly than that, I’m here in solidarity with people in the North.”
“Six counties in the island are in the exact same position as they were on the 24th of May last year, and there’s no prospect of legislation change in that regard, and we have to remember that”, he said.
Eleanor O’Mahony also contributed reporting to this piece.
