maol

I'm really sorry. During 2018 Irish feminists were really looking to Poland, there was even an Irish "Strike for Repeal" modelled on the Polish women's strike. Horrific stories are leaking out from America too. I really think Irish abortion activists need to do more to show solidarity with countries where abortion is threatened or banned.

There are many horrible examples from 20th century Ireland - as well as stillbirths or accidental deaths. Several are mentioned in the "Letters to Ann" radio documentary, based on correspondence received by a popular Irish radio programme in the early 80s.

I think there have been large scale longitudinal studies in the US that recorded a drop in infanticide in states with legal abortion - of course this boyo doesn't mention any studies like that, even to criticize them. because this is a plain ol' anti-abortion polemic, not a literature review - all the sources and statistics are there for purely cosmetic purposes.

Ah just like the prolife campaigner I argued with recently who said that in his* ideal world, abortion, contraception, and the morning-after pill would all be illegal. Apparently having an abortion is "irresponsible" because you're acting as if it's "someone else's problem". That really threw me for a loop. I mean, it's not like you can get someone else to have the abortion for you! He justified a contraception ban along the same lines - that people needed to accept the consequences of having sex, or something. I suggested to him that contraception was actually very effective at preventing abortions, and he frowned as if he couldn't understand what I was saying.

*Yes, he was a cis man who has never been pregnant or made anyone else pregnant. Sure, what else would you expect?

The girlssss are fightinnnnggg!!!!!!!

Yeah the studies he cites are all over the place. One about how single motherhood isn't fun, which would seem like an argument for abortion, not against? It's just the aul "contraception causes pregnancy" argument catholic pro-lifers used to lose.

He says like "well actually having access to abortion doesn't make women happier" , as if abortion isn't pretty essential to the happiness of SOME women. But he thinks if women are forced to have babies they'll realize that they really like it actually, because he's a wretched dog.

The only acceptable response. My body, my life, my right to decide. No surprise that someone in the "women are dumb" cult doesn't understand that women have bodily autonomy, and even thinks that "mother" is "someone who has no bodily autonomy".

Sorry disabled people, there might be a wide spectrum of disability with different access and support needs, but we're not going to do any individual assessments to ensure your autonomy is respected and you get the kind of help you want. It's one size fits all, now. And you can forget about support to enter the workplace....

"6)deaths from abortion are a function of infrastructure, not law: pro-life countries/regions with good healthcare (e.g. Chile, Poland, Malta, South Korea (until recently), Ireland (until recently), North Africa, UAE, and almost all of Europe pre-legalisation) have very few, in many cases zero, deaths from abortion ."

Despite our good (?) healthcare, there was a high-profile death due to lack of abortion access in Ireland: Savita Halappanavar. And that's despite the fact that from 1996 (?) to 2018 abortion was legally permitted to "protect the life of the mother", if a panel of doctors agreed her life was in danger. In addition to Savita's death there was a case in which a raped, pregnant teenager became suicidal, but because doctors did not agree she should have an abortion, she was committed and put on suicide watch. How's that for harm? Women who travelled abroad for abortions also experienced significant medical and psychological harm as a result: consider the case of A, B and C vs. Ireland.

"While there is (in my view) a commendable case for opposing abortion (an action I leave intentionally broad/vague)"

Yeah you would want to, wouldn't you. Don't want any specifics to crack your veneer of moral righteousness.

"Put another way, even if one believes abortion is permissible, it likely remains a comparable problem to any problem of infant mortality – but with even more lost life-years, and occurring on a much larger scale than infant mortality".

Well, it isn't comparable, because abortion prevents forced birth, and forced birth is a form of torture. As indeed is being forced to care for a child in poverty.

"Other responses to Thomson highlight various other disanalogies between pregnancy and the violinist situation: In most cases of abortion, the woman is responsible for both the child’s neediness and their intimate biological relationship with the woman – unlike the violinist case. Other responses to Thomson highlight various other disanalogies between pregnancy and the violinist situation: In most cases of abortion, the woman is responsible for both the child’s neediness and their intimate biological relationship with the woman – unlike the violinist case."

Bit of a bold statement, and likely untrue. It is impossible for a woman to know even when having unprotected sex if it will result in a pregnancy. Contraceptive technologies fail. And what about the responsibility of the father? It takes two.

"n the case of abortion, the woman is the mother of the child[6] – unlike the violinist case.[7]"

Ok, this is meaningless.

"The violinist is in an unnatural situation and being hooked up to the stranger is an unnatural position – by contrast, the fetus is exactly where she is supposed to be in her ‘natural habitat’."

Not in my womb, it isn't, motherfucker!

Quite a lot of pregnancies end early in miscarriage.

Moral uncertainty is reason to become pro-life? We do morally uncertain things every day. That's no reason to legislate.