- Culture
- 24 May 18
91. Tosh Flood
The Divine Comedy
I’m now living in Scotland and am prevented from voting but if I could, I would be voting Yes. No man, church or state should ever have any say in what women can and can’t do with their bodies.
92. Anne Gildea
Comedian
The 8th Amendent shows no compassion for Irish women in pregnancy crisis: be it the foetus they are carrying has FFA; they are victims of rape or incest; they are children themselves; they are medically at risk, of even death, if they carry the foetus to term; they are phyiscally, metally, privately shattered by unplanned pregnancy. The 8th denies Irish women bodily automny in such circumstance. It reduces Irish women to incubation vessels. It denies the lived experience of Irish women, the nuance and complexity of their lives. Ultimately, it has, FACT, resulted in the death of women in this State. YES, I’ll be voting YES. Repeal the 8th.
93. John Spillane
Musician
I’m in favour of repealing the 8th Amendment because I’m in favour of the dignity of women. I voted against it in 1983 and I’ll vote against it in 2018. Like the World Health Organisation and like Amnesty International, I don’t think the 8th Amendment is respectful to the citizens of Ireland
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94. CAIT O’RIORDAN
Musician
Vote YES! Otherwise we will seize power and ban vasectomies because we can’t trust 50% of humanity to make decisions about their own reproductive system.
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95. Kevin Nolan
Singer & Songwriter
Thousands of women have had to make their own personal decision about abortion, shamed, alone, scared and confused. Now every voter in Ireland is in this position. Symbolically every voter in Ireland is now pregnant and must make their own personal decision. The clock is ticking, Ireland. The only way to approach this issue is on a personal level because it is about personal freedom, the freedom to live out your own personal destiny. There is no mistaking that, in particular, this is a female issue, but to simplify further, it is an issue that concerns the individual – it is about each and every person in Ireland and their right to fulfill their own personal destiny.
96. Cathy Davey
Singer & Songwriter
I want to be part of a compassionate society. Voting Yes is one way we can all come together to protect HALF of our population in one fell swoop.
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97. Kate O’Toole
Actor
Bodily autonomy is a human right. At the risk of stating the obvious, autonomy isn’t an issue for a zygote, or a cluster of cells. Nor is it an issue for sperm although, given the right conditions, that too can eventually become a baby. I fail to understand the confusion about when life begins. If you believe in science, if you believe in human rights, if you believe women deserve the same basic rights as men enjoy, vote Yes. Either that or take misguided emotional objections rooted in hocus pocus to their logical conclusion and make male masturbation illegal. I believe there are some religious sects which already disapprove of this practise.
98. MARIAN KEYES (pictured)
Author
Making abortions illegal never stops them from happening, instead it makes them furtive, possibly unsafe and loaded with shame. Women in Ireland deserve safe and legal healthcare in their own country.
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99. Garry Hynes
Theatre Director
A woman must have the right to make decisions about her own body. Terminating a pregnancy is a matter for individual decision not for the state. The 8th must be repealed.
100. JERRY FISH
Singer
It is vital that us men show that we care about the health of Irish women and vote Yes to repeal the 8th on May 25. It is comical but true, as a “responsible” teenager in Dublin during in the 1980s, the only way one could practise safe sex was by attaining a “gift” of condoms for a “donation” from the IFPA on Cathal Brugha Street, otherwise one would need to have a doctor’s prescription. I can hear you kids laughing, Ireland was a laughing stock, but the joke really wasn’t that funny. During the 1990s we witnessed an Aids epidemic which took the lives of many beautiful young people in Ireland and still we could not purchase a condom over the pharmacy counter in Ireland. Thankfully that has changed, times do change, and now we can relax and enjoy safe sex in Ireland. What would we have done without the IFPA / Well Woman centre? Repealing the 8th Amendment is simply a public health issue – by voting Yes to repeal the 8th, we have a chance to show the women of Ireland that we care and respect them and their choices. We have to stop turning a blind eye to this issue and exporting our sisters, daughters, wives and friends to the UK for treatment. I am voting for change, I am voting for care and compassion in what is a very personal and complex issue. I am voting Yes to Repeal the 8th.
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