‘It’s Fine. I Did It A Few Weeks Ago’

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Dáil members voting on Independents 4 Change TD Mick Wallace’s bill, to allow for terminations in Ireland in the case of a fatal foetal abnormality, and how TDs voted

Henry McDonald, in The Guardian, reports:

Dr Lara Kelly is one of the first members of the Irish medical profession to speak publicly about travelling to the UK for an abortion. The 35-year-old GP said her decision to speak out was motivated by the blocking of a bill in the Irish parliament earlier this month that would have allowed for abortions in Irish hospitals in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities.

…At Liverpool airport, Kelly and her husband decided to carry the remains on to the plane, rather than have them placed in the hold, in case the luggage went missing. Passing through security brought on further trauma, she said.

We were queuing at security for ages and I wasn’t feeling physically great after the procedure the day before,” she said. “When we got to the top we said to the security guy that we had to declare foetal remains. The guy said, ‘What?’ He didn’t seem to understand and so we said it out loud again. He didn’t know what foetal remains meant so Mark said, ‘It’s a baby in the box’, and the man said out loud, ‘A baby in the box?’ Half the queue heard that, probably some of those who were getting on our flight to Dublin heard that.”

On her way back to Dublin, Kelly approached a member of staff at Liverpool airport to ask for advice about travelling with foetal remains. “The girl was Irish as it happened and she said something astonishing to me. ‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘You need to go over to the gentleman at customs and declare the remains at security. It’s fine, I did it a few weeks ago.’ That’s what she said to me. It was said with such normality because she had done it herself.”

‘My baby in a box’: Irish GP tells of trauma of travelling to UK for abortion (Henry McDonald, The Guardian)

Previously: 45-95

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51 thoughts on “‘It’s Fine. I Did It A Few Weeks Ago’

  1. The Real Jane

    One of the most shocking accounts of how appalling the 8th amendment is for women. I simply don’t know how anyone could read that and come away thinking that it’s all fine and we don’t need to do anything.

    1. Dόn 'The Unstoppable Force' Pídgéόní

      Oh, they will. They always will. That’s why you have to just ignore them. Same goes for Starina’s comment below

    2. They Tried To Make Me Go To Rehab

      I actually don’t give a spoo about it Jane

      The silly bint brought a dead person’s remains through customs and then acts surprised when the airport security considers it unusual? Are you guys for real? Have some perspective FFS

  2. Starina

    excellent article in the Guardian, very harrowing.

    Though I squirmed at the “it’s fine, i did it a few weeks ago” line because the anti-choicers will twist it to sound like women are heartless idiots who would casually be getting abortions left right and centre given half a chance.

    1. The Real Jane

      Yes, they seem to think that having an abortion is something that women would enjoy and really want to do as often as possible.

      I guess though, if you want to ignore women’s rights to control their own body, accepting that they’re a rational person who is able to make reasonable choices makes it far more difficult. Much better to think that women are stupid, irrational and unable to understand what they’re doing. Then it’s OK to strap them to a gurney/force feed them/force them to have a section against their will/artificially keep them alive once they are actually dead. It’s LOVING THEM BOTH, you know.

  3. fluffybiscuits

    What rattles my f*.#&%ng cage is the treatment of women in Ireland with regards to lack of autonomy over their own bodies. They are forced into this situation where middle aged white men, fundamentalist catholics and conservative right wing country types block any attempt for a woman to control her own body. If women were to do the equivelant of what men do to them they could force us to cut our balls off via interfering with out bodily autonomy and by extension our reproduction system. This nonsense argument that a fetus is somehow murder is pure nonsense, it is a decision that is made by a woman and not one taken lightly. The fetus does not exist independently of the mother up to a certain point but does not dehumanise the fetus, its a fact of life. As the expression goes if men got pregnant you could go for a pint and a kebab and nip in for a termination on the way home, and no Im not sorry for saying that, its the priveleged position patriarchs have in soceity. I feel a little emotional reading this.Ireland exports its issues and always has done – emmigration, kids from mothers homes, unemployed, shamed family members. Read the article and tell me you do not feel the bile rise at the back of your throat.it may seem odd me a gay man having an interest and obsession with this topic but this is not just about the topic of abortion, its about equality for women and those other minorities who are subject to the whim of a conservative estabilishment.

    1. jambon

      It’s not a men/women issue, you numpty. It’s women controlling women’s bodies as much as it’s men. And yes, it’s disgusting.

        1. jambon

          What percentage of the cock-eyed, concervative, Catholic electorate is male that they are placating?

        2. classter

          You would be shocked how many young Irish women are not pro-choice.

          Or at least, I was shocked when I realised.

          1. jambon

            No, the majority of people stopping this are a mixed bag of male/female/young/old/middle-aged/white/brown conservative Catholics.

          2. Kieran NYC

            Same here.

            A lot have been shown abortion videos in school by nuns, which is outrageous.

      1. Number cruncher

        140 TDs voted on the issue – 31 female, 109 male.
        Of the females who voted, 51.6% voted in favour and 48.4% against (16 votes v 15 votes).
        Of the males who voted, 26.6% voted in favour and 73.4% voted against (29 votes v 80 votes).

        Make of that what you will.

    2. They Tried To Make Me Go To Rehab

      almost as bile-inducing as your hatred of artists and boring articles on the eurovision

  4. gorugeen

    A searing example of the effect of our so called right to life clause. Cora Sherlock et al should hang their heads in shame. This is what they espouse? How many thousand examples do these tunnel visioned idiots need before they face reality?

    1. nellyb

      Have you ever seen ashamed lobbyist? it disqualifies one from such job. I think Caroline Simons’ strides are more impressive, she’s going for the throat:
      “About the author. Caroline Simons is a BCL Dip Eur Law LLM (International and European Intellectual Property Law) Solicitor. She is currently a candidate for an MA in Bioethics and Medical Law at St Mary’s University, London. She did her dissertation for LLM at Trinity College Dublin in 2014, which was on subject of 3-Person IVF. Currently she is researching legal issues around germline editing techniques for MA dissertation.”
      http://www.ipscell.com/2016/04/meeting-summary-of-paris-human-gene-editing-workshop/

    2. Daisy Chainsaw

      Cora’s not allowed speak for herself at the moment, probably due to the ridiculous statements she’s made about medical waste in bin bags, abortions up to birth and doctors illegally putting pressure on women to abort. The PLC has taken over management and it’s usually a Corabot spewing the hate these days.

  5. Rugbyfan

    a good few of those who voted no were probably thinking of the mass goers who voted what they would think instead of forming an opinion for themselves.

  6. gorugeen

    If they came out and said “I believe it’s wrong because God says so” they’d get a sight more respect than the pseudo “science” and law they spout.

    1. newsjustin

      This piece obviously skips over the main anti-abortion argument – that it’s not cool to end the lives of other humans.

  7. Peter Dempsey

    Baby in a box – presumably only applies in FFA situations? Which along with rape and threat to the mother’s life account for 100% of Irish women’s abortions in the UK.

        1. Daisy Chainsaw

          So no basis whatsoever. Women go for a myriad of reasons. FFA and rape are 2 of them. Most are because the woman doesn’t want to be pregnant whether it’s due to physical, emotional, and/or financial reasons.

          1. They Tried To Make Me Go To Rehab

            don’t mind Peter Daisy he’s just going through the change of life

  8. some old queen

    So she wanted to carry the aborted foetus home like it was hand luggage then surprised it caused problems. There are other ways of ensuring the remains got home safely.

    I don’t buy this story for one single moment.

    BS can we have a UK/Irish (English) spell checker please on this site please? The ‘z’ type thing is getting irritating.

      1. some old queen

        Look, I am pretty sure I don’t understand all the pain that a decision like this brings and I certainly do not agree that we should be adding extra layers of obstacles by exporting such but if true, how did anyone think that this was not going to cause problems at airport security? I find that hard to believe.

        Lara is a medic but the general public is squeamish so IMO this story was an own goal because while it was making a political point, it also highlights explicit details which I think would make most people feel uneasy.

        Oh yes, and as for jumping on someone with a fake name and calling for them to be banned because YOU don’t like the question being asked. Get used to it because there will be a lot more forceful opinions on this subject than someone asking a common sense question. Wind your neck in.

        1. They Tried To Make Me Go To Rehab

          don’t mind them soqie

          the day-to-day bedwetters on this site don’t like anyone to go off-message

        2. Enn

          It’s supposed to make the general public uncomfortable. The general public are astonishingly bloody ignorant about the lived experience of abortion and even childbearing generally – the general male public, that is. Therefore you get a lot of people like yourself wading in with opinions based on conjecture and suggestions that you should somehow be protected from the gory details of women’s actual lived experience.

          1. D'El Boy

            Actual lived experience? Bringing human remains through customs is an “experience” now is it?

          2. some old queen

            Summary | Pro Life force offensive pictures of aborted foetuses into the hands of unsuspecting shoppers for a reason and an account of carrying a ‘dead baby’ through airport security is pretty much the same thing.

            I’ll wade in as much as I like honey.

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