Barq's Jess Kavanagh On The Repeal The 8th Campaign

I am going to make an assumption about you. Hope that’s cool. If you have bought this Hot Press issue, with my ridiculous mug on the front, and the motif from Maser’s ‘Repeal The Eighth’ mural above my left shoulder, you probably have pro-choice sensibilities.

Maybe that is a problem though, my assumptions. Living in this liberal echo-chamber, surrounded by humans who represent a progressive, multicultural Dublin. My social media pages are full of event requests for pro-choice rallies and articles supporting the movement to Repeal The Eighth amendment. I live in a little, safe space in which my opinions are rarely questioned, let alone attacked. Notions. I don’t know if I really have to explain to you, why women’s reproductive rights need to be protected.
I don’t need to tell you of terrified teenage girls, who end up at The Women’s Centre on Berkley Street. The parents who have reached their financial and emotional limit with the amount of children they have. Savita Halappanavar. The women who’ve gone abroad on the weekend and come back on Monday, in pain with no work leave. The women with no post-procedure aid.
The men who feel helpless. The men who hold their partner’s hand as they sob on a plane. The men who are expected to pick up the pieces without help from the state. The men who watch their pregnant partner in pain with complications that won’t be treated because of our laws. The men who watch their partners give birth to a stillborn baby. The men who watch their baby have the worst death.
I may need to tell you about asylum seekers living on €19 a week. Just let that sink in. Imagine €19 a week being your income while pregnant and no chance for an education or a job. Let alone leave the country for a termination. Migrant women with resident status. If they even attempted to leave Ireland for an abortion, they would be deported back to an estranged country of origin. They need to be talked about. Their voices need to be heard.
We are experiencing a sociological sea change in Irish society. We can start to consider ourselves as becoming progressive. As we embrace the term ‘pro-choice’ into the complex lexicon of our cultural identity, we to consider what that means. When opinion becomes ideology, when ideology becomes identity.
What is important is everyone being open to discussion. I am guilty of feeling personally attacked when someone questions female reproductive rights but we have to remember that an exchange of opinions and stimulating debate is paramount. We have to inform people of the necessity of Repeal The 8th without becoming inflammatory and it is so fucking hard.  How do we not feel like someone is questioning our identity? But we have to bypass that visceral reaction in order for debate to occur in a productive way.
One of the most effective ways in which the Marriage Equality campaign worked in its favour was opening up a discussion with people on the fence or with more conservative ideals. Gay couples knocked on their neighbour’s door and introduced themselves as the person they saw in their local shops or picking up their kids from school. Gay people were no longer other-ed and left on the periphery. I wonder how we will convince a friend to knock on her neighbour’s door and explain to them that she’s had an abortion. Can we do that? The more I think about it the more I realise how strong we are going to have to be. We are able to be that strong. No question.
As we inevitably begin to mobilise, remember that not all pro-choicers will look like you. We are multi-faceted. Some will have religious beliefs, some will be privileged, white feminists who will look at you blankly when you try and explain the importance of multicultural inclusion in the campaign. Some will be angry refugees who resent your privilege that you can leave the country. Some will find the murals, the t-shirts and my stupid mug to be reductive and to be damaging to the cause. I want to talk to you all. I want to hear you.
Finally, Pro-Life people are entitled to their beliefs and their faith, but we will not be governed by someone’s beliefs anymore. That is preposterous. If you are on the fence, if you feel you don’t belong in this movement for whatever reason, you do. We deserve this. We deserve to mobilise behind an ideology that protects all women and all partners from isolation, pain and even arrest.
I don’t need to tell you, but here I am. What I would love though, is a discussion. What I want to be is informed. We should all be open to that.

Catch Barq live when they join September 23 & 24’s free Canalaphonic line-up at Leinster Cricket Club, and across town on October 6 in the Chocolate Factory, Dublin as part of Hard Working Class Heroes