Blog Post: International Women’s Day – Ireland under Abortion Prohibition

Blog post to accompany the new single, Breeder.

I find it hard to articulate what it’s like to grow up as a woman in Ireland under abortion prohibition. A (post-colonial) country that is ready to export it’s women (the ones that can afford it / have the legal status that allows them to do so) to the UK to have abortions there. That likes to pretend Irish abortion doesn’t exist. I watch the news, read the newspaper since I was a child and it doesn’t make any sense – members of Catholic institutes posing as “teachers”. Wat?

I stopped reading the newspaper. You have to get on with life. The case of Savita Halappanavar, entirely outrageous on it’s own terms, opens up wounds of anger and rage. I can’t call them pro-life anymore, not after this.

And when I watch thousands of people marching for women’s human rights in Ireland – it takes my breath away. Setting our sights higher than just life and death situations but towards actual choice. Fighting for self-determination and to burn down the hell they have created. Yeah! We’re gonna take overrrrrrrr!

Women and trans*people are humans too. The Irish constitution (Article 40.3.3) denies that when it refers to pregnant women as “mothers”. Women are people, first and foremost! I’m a person, I’m not a breeder!!!

<3, Midi Grrrl Choice Ireland
Berlin Vigil and Protest Outside the Irish Embassy

This entry was posted in 2013, Ireland, Midi Grrrl Blog and tagged , , , by yom. Bookmark the permalink.

About yom

Maebh Murphy grew up in Waterford, Ireland and lives in Berlin, Germany. As a teenager, she participated in outreach programmes by Waterford Youth Arts and developed a taste for writing, acting, directing, dance and theatre. At Trinity College, Dublin she studied English Literature and Drama Studies. In 2006 she was a founding member of the "audiodetour" project, making mp3 choreographed audio guides in Dublin, Edinburgh, Berlin and New York. In 2007 she formed the band You're Only Massive, who have released several records on vinyl, cassette and itunes and played concerts in Europe and North America. Since 2011 she have been working with Ruby Tuesday e.v. Berlin as a band coach, instrument coach and organizer of music camps for people discriminated against on the basis of gender, and is currently in the process of setting up Girls* Rock! Ireland. She is a catalyst of Project Arts Centre, Dublin. Interests include electronic music, synthesizers, feminism, classism, the girls rock movement and veganism.

One thought on “Blog Post: International Women’s Day – Ireland under Abortion Prohibition

  1. This makes me sick + frankly embarrassed. The State is blatantly abusing women’s human right to make safe / informed decisions about what happens in/to their own bodies. I am not a breeder.

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