Repeal the 8th

The whole abortion act/law needs tightening up.
Yes make it legal in Ireland.
Then make it far more serious an undertaking.

so why should women who are pregnant be baby making fatcories for women who cant have them? I'm a woman who had several miscarriages and lost babies...BABIES who were fully formed and well over 24 weeks and I wouldn't expect ANY woman to carry a baby to full term and hand it over to me ..that is plainly rediculous.
The issue is women who believe that having a baby is a RIGHT when it is in fact a privilege and not all can have them..maybe they should accept that ,like older generations did

Exactly gmelon

Paddyann, no one has said anyone has a right to have a child. I gave birth to two babies who died immediately after birth. They were so beautiful and perfectly formed . I had one baby born five weeks early, beautiful and perfectly formed. Thank God she lived.

If woman should accept being unable to have a baby like older generations did, then should women accept unwanted pregnancies as older generations did ?

Alas, some women of older generations did not accept unwanted pregnancies and the solution for them was back street abortion. My grandmother’s sister for example, whose health was ruined due to such a procedure.
Allow the women who chose to have abortions to be safe. We can’t speculate on the reasons why unless we have personal knowledge of these reasons.

A foetus is part of the mother's body until it can exist independently. Theres so many scenarios where women should have a choice - mental or physical health of the mother, rape or incest, very young girls. Are people who wish women to be denied abortion prepared to foot the bill for caring for such mothers and children for many years to come? Are they campaigning for the lives of children around the world already born whose lives are threatened by war or poverty? If not, they are hardly pro-life.

Those who oppose abortion, have you heard about the case of Savita Halappanavar? It's quite prominent in the debate at the moment, but in case you haven't, Savita was 17 weeks pregnant when she began to miscarry. She asked for a termination as miscarriage was inevitable. She was refused one and then developed a septic miscarriage and died. In her case surely an abortion was the right course of action? If abortion was legal at the time, Savita would still be alive.

That case was fairly recent, in Ireland.

No mention of women who have abortions because it would be inconvenient

Yes Annie. I agree with you. Exactly why there should be changes.

Changes in the law. Make abortion available to extreme cases. Not so much the supply and demand to every request.
Morning after pill? How about the "think about it before they go out for the night pill". Or the "I musnt end up on bed with a stranger tonight pill".

In bed

inconvenient for many reasons and most valid...if the mother isn't ready to have a child should she be forced to? Should she be tied to a violent partner for life because she's pregnant.Should she give up on her life or career path because her contraception failed ? Lots of reasons ,lots of decisions made for reasons that the MOTHER believes is right for her.Nobody elses business !!

I agree this is indeed a conundrum. I find it strange that it’s always about ‘ what women choose to do with their bodies’, and no mention is made of the child. I do know people who have had terminations, one a young girl who was going to university, and another two who didn’t want to jeopardise career prospects. All three managed it very easily, two medical practitioners readily agreeing that to continue with the pregnancy would pose a ‘ significant and permanent’ risk to the health of the mother. These are the situations which worry me.

The morning after pill is nothing like an abortion. It simply prevents you from getting pregnant. Surely if you are against abortion so strongly then you should support women taking the morning after pill to prevent ever needing an abortion!

I have used the morning after pill after a contraception failure in a long term relationship. We weren't ready for a child, so I took the morning after pill to prevent becoming pregnant. Nothing like an abortion. Also it's extremely useful in the case of women who have been raped as it prevents pregnancy.

Encouraging women to take the morning after pill following unprotected sex, and making the morning after pill more easily available, could drastically reduce the number of abortions in the long run.

New mom
No one has mentioned the morning after pill being the same as an abortion.

Also, what extreme circumstances do you propose then?
Currently in Ireland abortion is only legal if a mothers life is at serious risk.
So what about if the baby is going to die shortly after birth? Should the mother be forced to carry that baby to full term and give birth, knowing the baby won't live? Is that not cruel?!
What about in the cases of women who have been raped? In cases of incest? Are they extreme enough?
What about a woman who finds out the baby has a chromosomal abnormality? Should she be allowed a termination? Or a woman who gets pregnant accidentally with a history of post natal depression, putting her mental health and the safety of her current children at risk. Are they considered extreme enough? It's difficult with such a complicated issue to know when, or where, the line should be drawn. That's why I believe it should be the woman's choice, only she knows the true effect it will have on her.

No, but there was a very judgemental tone to your post. What people do with their own body and sex life is up to them. The morning after pill is a form of contraception (which isn't given on the NHS and has a cost to obtain it) and anyone taking it is surely taking responsibility to ensure they don't get pregnant.

Daddima, I am bothered by such reasons to. Abortion on demand was not included when abortion was made legal .

I accept there are cases when abortions should be carried out, but on demand takes away all responsibility, not convenient at this point in my career ? Contraception , morning after pill.

Love the use of the word ‘convenience’ and a ’whim’ to criticise the existence of abortion. Newmom we’re banging our heads against a misogynistic judgemental brick wall on here - women who would be absolutely fine to see a woman strapped down to a bed forced to give birth at the end of a pregnancy she hadn’t wanted. Handmaid’s Tale anyone.? As well as the Savita case ,there was patient X made pregnant at the age of 14 after rape by a family ‘friend’ who it turned out had been regularly abusing her. She was the case where they tried to stop her going to England for an abortion - it did however lead to a change in the law. How could anyone hate a raped 14 year old so much? There’s also medical evidence that real physical damage can be done through pregnancy and birth when the mother is very young.

What a pity that we are not perfect - that we make mistakes, that we have a contraceptive fail, that we are sometimes irresponsible. And that some of you think that the punishment should be an enforced pregnancy - because that’s what you’re saying.except of course the well off and priveleged would get their nice safe abortions anyway and the poorer would be back to the back street. So really it’s a misogyny aimed at poor women - how loving, how caring, how compassionate, how hypocritical.

If tragic cases are being used to support abortion on demand then inconvenient pregnancies should be used to support tightening of the abortion practices.

If for abortions regardless of reasons then this should be simply - a woman’s right, not use tragic cases for this

But how do you know that those pregnancies are just inconvenient to women? How do you know it wouldn't have a detrimental affect to their wellbeing, their mental health? If they get pregnant and realise that it may lead to them being stuck in an abusive relationship? An abortion is a distressing procedure, women have to have counselling to make sure they are making the right decision, it's not just case of going into a doctors surgery and saying 'I want an abortion'. There are so many reasons women can need an abortion.

It's fine to be against abortion, for yourself, thats your opinion. But abortion should be made legal so each woman can make the right choice for her.

No, tragic cases are being used to show the very real suffering which results from the 8th but also pro choice supporters believe in exactly that -choice and bodily autonomy. The No camp do not care about how tragic the circumstances are. You ab I think have made it clear that healthy foetuses should not be aborted for reasons of eg so called ‘convenience’ so you do not accept a woman’s right to choose - which way would you vote today? Accept the suffering as a price worth paying?

I have never said I am against abortion, I am able to discuss it calmly.