- Music
- 22 May 18
Over the coming days, as we move closer to an historic opportunity for the people of Ireland to get rid of an archaic part of the Constitution, we'll be sharing the words of singers, artists, filmmakers, authors and more, who are urging people to vote for Repeal.
61. Rupert Morris
Bats
If you follow the No campaign’s logic, masturbation is genocide.
62. Sub Motion
Band
We, as a band, are proud to say that we strongly support repealing the 8th Amendment. This country has been governed on the basis of religion for too long, when the church has no say in women’s health in this day and age. In other countries, women can receive medical care safely and legally with proper regulations in place, and support from the state. It’s time to support women and bring this to Ireland.
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63. Zac Stephenson
Munky
This is an issue that has been affecting Irish women for far too long. I mean, we’re four lads, people say it’s not our issue – but it affects the people closest to us. There’s a lot of talk about the male vote in all this and we think it’s important that lads like us get involved. It’s not something to be on the sidelines about, history won’t care that you were hungover that day and didn’t make it to the polling booth. Don’t be idle, your vote counts.
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64. Ivana Bacik
Politician & Lawyer
I was too young to vote in 1983, but I have lived all of my adult life under the repressive shadow of the 8th Amendment. I now have two young daughters – I do not want them growing up under the same shadow. Nearly 30 years ago, I felt the effect of that shadow personally as a Trinity College Dublin students’ union officer, when we were taken to court by the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) in 1989 and threatened with prison for giving the phone numbers of clinics in Britain to women with crisis pregnancies.
I will never forget the desperation in the voices of the women who phoned us, and in the faces of those who called to our union office in Trinity seeking that information, not then accessible anywhere else, because SPUC had closed down women’s counselling centres under the 8th Amendment in a series of cases.
Over the decades since then, women have continued to travel to England for abortions; nine or ten women every day. In 2016 alone, 3,265 women gave Irish addresses at English clinics and hospitals. In addition, over 1000 women a year are importing abortion pills without medical support or supervision; and under threat of criminal prosecution and a penalty of up to 14 years imprisonment.
Under the 8th Amendment, we cannot as legislators pass any law to help these women, or to provide for abortion in any case other than risk to a woman’s life – the test established in the X case. We cannot legislate for abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape or incest; or even where a pregnancy poses a serious risk to a woman’s health. For all of these reasons we must Repeal the 8th.
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65. Laura Whitmore (pictured)
Television Presenter & Actor
This referendum is not about whether or not you personally believe in abortions. They are happening. As it stands, women are leaving Ireland unmonitored, unsafe and a lot of times alone. This is about protecting and trusting women. I spent 10 days in Ireland this month and was shocked by the misleading campaign posters from the No campaign that I saw all over the country. Abortions can only take place in the early stages of pregnancy and we are voting to repeal legislation that makes an often tragically necessary act a criminal offence.
No one knows the circumstances any one person is in. This is about pro-choice. It’s not about forcing someone into a situation that is potentially life-threatening for them. My mother was single and unmarried when she had me and would never have considered an abortion – but she is voting Yes for repeal as it’s about choice for women. We are not saying abortions are good, they are tragic – but sadly they are the only option for some people. Voting Yes doesn’t necessarily mean there will be more Irish women having abortions: it just means we are not ignoring something that is happening anyway.
66. Kevin Baird
Two Door Cinema Club
The 8th Amendment does little to stop abortion – 10 Irish women every day terminate pregnancy illegally. The 8th only protects unsafe and undignified abortion. All of us, men included, must support those able to get pregnant. Support their right to choice, to dignity and to equality. They may be equal in our eyes, but they are not equal under the law and that needs to change.
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67. Ryan, James, Colleen, Greg & Adam
Brass Phantoms
As a band consisting of both men and women, we stand in solidarity with and support the efforts of the Repeal Movement and Together For Yes in their fight for a more compassionate Ireland, that gives women the dignity, respect, and above all, the choice to act in their own best interest.
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68. Chewing On Tinfoil
Band
We believe in complete bodily autonomy. We trust and support women. That’s why we’ll be voting Yes.
69. Louise Holden
I Draw Slow
The 8th Amendment is a Catch 22. It’s impossible to vindicate full rights for a woman and a foetus in every situation. It’s time now for Ireland to make the difficult, mature decision we’ve been avoiding for years. We need Yes votes from men in particular, who have always had choices when it comes to parenting. Fair’s fair. Vote Yes.
70. ÓDÚ
Singer & Songwriter
If you are a woman who doesn’t want children, you can make that decision for yourself. It is your choice to make and no one else’s. But you can also change your mind if you want to. That is the beauty of choice. However, if you’re unlucky enough to have an unwanted pregnancy in Ireland, that choice is taken away from you. Your body becomes your keeper under the law and everything else becomes secondary; your health, autonomy and the trajectory of the rest of your life. We have spent many decades punishing women for being pregnant in this country in different ways. First it was the laundries and now it is the 8th Amendment, which time and again has put women’s lives at risk. Stop punishing women. Give them a choice. Have compassion and Repeal the 8th.