This afternoon.

Film Base, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

The launch of Everyday Stories, an exhibition launching TONIGHT highlighting the stories of women who have had abortions and the ways in which the Eighth Amendment impacts on real lives.

The exhibition, started by Caoimhe Anglin (above), features the stories of eight women and their families.

All eight, including Caoimhe, have been impacted by the Eighth Amendment, with six of them having travelled abroad to access abortion services.

Everyday Stories at Filmbase (Facebook)

Leah Farrell/RollingNews

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86 thoughts on “8 Women

  1. TheRealJane

    I think if these women imagine that personal testimony will change antis minds, they’re mistaken. Ultimately, the anti abortioners do not care about women’s lives or welfare and nothing will persuade them that short of dying, women are in any way relevant.

    And sometimes not even then.

    1. Common Projekts

      I don’t agree with that. There are people out there whose minds are not firmly in either camp. Dunno if they are many or few, but they are undecided. And from speaking in passing to some people who were working at that exhibition in NCAD a while back, events like this can make people think differently. There’s a lot of, eh, passionate people on both sides of the argument. Sometimes quiet and personal and real stories can bring a different perspective.

    2. Nigel

      If there’s one thing learned from Brexit and Trump it’s that you can rail and rail against the people who will never change their minds all you want, but you’re much better off making sure the people who do agree with you get out and vote.

      1. Harry Molloy

        +1 and appealing to the undecided who react better to encouragement and empathy rather than criticism (people can be fickle)

        1. bad@memes

          The presence of non-progressives and their self-proclaimed importance will never permeate my perception, so I don’t know where you’re going with this ‘persuasion’ idea.

          – It’s Education that’s at fault, and blind ignorance.
          – And wrongful encouragement.
          – And a government who are more concerned with the next election than doing the job they were elected to do.

          When I call it ‘Bog Standartd I’m not slagging the Culchies, but all things considered, it IS their fault.

          1. bdoons

            I asked when it is OK and not OK to have an abortion. And you wanted Mods to delete that? Very strange. I’m a big fan of this site. It’s one of only a handful of Orish sites where you can have proper discussions.

      2. gorugeen

        Indeedly Nigel. Sure look at the recent UCD debacle. More voted to impeach her than voted in the original election in total. Voting is important.

  2. Gabby

    I remember that anti-abortion campaigners outside the Dail recently included a couple of women who had had abortions and regretted it afterwards. Might their testimony also sway “the undecided”?

    1. bad@memes

      You dream of ‘the undecided’.
      – They don’t exist.

      This farce has been going on too long enough already.
      Nobody is on the fences, the consensus is decided..

      Let’s have a referendum.
      You people talk too loudly from your echo-chamber.
      – What will you do when your oxygen is gone?

    2. Daisy Chainsaw

      Antichoice had an American abortionist speak for women who regretted their abortions. They don’t trust these women to speak for themselves… Can’t say I blame them really. These hypocrites want to deny others something they chose to do themselves.

  3. bdoons

    Leaving the small number of cases where rape / abnormalities exist, what are yer thoughts on when it’s not OK to kill a fetus? It’s there a time frame? Over 10-12 weeks? Same for when it becomes a baby after 4-6 months etc. I am in neither camp as I don’t know enough. But I do know that it’s killing a being, as undeveloped as it may be at the time.

        1. bdoons

          Not at all. With all your effort, you could have answered my question long ago. Can you do that please? When it is OK and not OK to kill it. And at what weeks/ time frame.

          1. bdoons

            So you won’t answer it then. But you will try and get mods to delete posts that you don’t agree with? Very strange behaviour.

    1. Brother Barnabas

      “I am in neither camp as I don’t know enough. But I do know that it’s killing a being…”

      You’re pretty clearly in a camp, actually. It’s just that you lack the intelligence to recognise it or the subtlety to conceal it.

      It’d be nice to see a frank and honest debate in the lead-up to this referendum. Looks like it’ll be a filthy campaign of lies and deception, though. Pity.

      1. bad@memes

        All the lies and deception come from one side Brother, and we all know it.
        Let’s ‘reefer end um’ and chill with a joint while they implode.

        Their days are numbered, as soon as Leo takes his finger out of his

      2. bdoons

        Thanks brother. Again, I’m not in either camp. Can I have your thoughts on when it is and when it’s not OK to kill ‘it’. And what is’it’ from day one to week 12. Let’s use my lack of intelligence as a reason for and against abortion. You’ll see what I did there.

        1. bad@memes

          I see it.
          You kinda gave it away with that bit about ‘lack of intelligence’.

          Carry on.
          …You see what I did there?

          Stop hitting yourself.

          1. bdoons

            Fair play. You did see. Now. Can you answer my question. Because I would like to know when it is OK and when it is not OK to kill it. Are you going to answer the question.

          2. gorugeen

            Trying to bait folks is mighty clever of you. Fe ck off somewhere else, Google the facts and make up your own mind( though it’s pretty clear that’s a fait accompli).

          3. bdoons

            Google won’t tell me what you think or why you think it. Or how you came to think it. Same for what the above posters. I’m not baiting anyone. I don’t know the answer to the question. And it’s one of the core questions of the debate/vote/topic.

          4. newsjustin

            One of the main things about being pro-choice bdoons is that one must never think about or talk about abortion directly. Only in vague terms. Some pro-choice people will barely acknowledge that anything happens as a result of an abortion.

          5. bdoons

            And all I want is a that. A discussion. How can any problem be worked out as best it can be if there can be no conversation on it.

        2. Brother Barnabas

          When you use the word “kill”, your views are clear. So you are in a “camp”.

          I on the other hand am not in any camp. I just know when to mind my own business.

          1. bdoons

            I use the word kill as ‘it’ has a heart beat. I would still use ‘kill’ if it was a kitten. If it was tumor or a cancer or just a group of cells, I would use the word ‘remove’.

          2. bdoons

            Mind my business? So for anyone you think is not in favor of Abortion, you say mind your own business. But if they are clearly for abortion, then it’s their business? stage way to look a it. I’ve said this a few times now here. I’m am not in either camp, as I don’t know enough yet to have a well informed opinion.

          3. Brother Barnabas

            I’m not against abortion and I’m not for abortion. I’m for people having the right to make their own decisions – and that extends to whether you want to buy a TV license (or not), listen to Coldplay (or not), slice your own mickey in half (or not), urinate in your fireplace (or not) and on and on.

            I oppose the church or the state telling me what anyone can or can’t do.

            (if there was a referendum to ban Coldplay, I’d vote yes)

          4. bdoons

            That’s a lot of ‘yours’. Are you saying that the thing that grows inside a pregnant woman is the woman’s property?

          5. bdoons

            Question still stands. I take it from that comment that you so think that. Am I wrong in thinking that?

      3. Clamped Outside!

        It’d be to see a frank and honest debate alright, one where commenters did not respond by stating other commenters lack intelligence to engage when they ask questions

    2. TheRealJane

      I don’t think time limits are particularly helpful. Generally, the vast majority of abortions happen within the first 12 weeks, which most people appear to consider acceptable. Late term abortion tend to be situations where there’s a foetal abnormality. The pregnancy has to get to a certain point before it can be diagnosed. The next largest group are perimenopausal women who assumed they were no longer able to get pregnant.

      If you were to imagine women were normal, rational people, how would you think about their choices? Would you say that if you were pregnant, would you simply wake up one morning at 30 weeks and decide to have an abortion on a whim? Probably not. If you didn’t want to be pregnant, it’s likely that you’d need to deal with it as quickly and early as possible.

      1. bad@memes

        I agree.
        This idiotiic view that it’s a simple choice between being a murderer or a mother is so stupid that it shold NEVER be entertained.

        Referendum NOW.
        – Let’s shut this minority up for once and forever.

        1. Nice Anne

          But why? It fits in with the Slut / Saint that the Catholic church love. If you are not one, you are the other.

          Choking all those poor sperm in a condom.
          Letting all that period stuff flow into a tampon.
          It should be fertalised YOU MURDERER.

          Why are you not pregnant after all your SLUTTING?
          How dare you have sex, you should be a SAINT?

          It’s genuinely amazing there are not more female serial killers targeting the church in this country.

      2. bdoons

        I get ya. But what is deemed ‘acceptable’ may not be. There has to be a line here and I’d love to know when that is during the 12 weeks – being the majority of cases. Before the heart starts. Before the brain and eyes start to develop – IE the first 6 weeks or after. I’m genuinely asking this as it’s a valid place to start – at the beginning. And I’m not calling anyone a murderer. I want for and against to tell me the OK and not OK times.

        1. TheRealJane

          Well you’ve decided it’s a valid place to start and asked other people to justify what they think based on it.

          You clearly have an agenda and an opinion, so instead of sloppily trying to draw people in and trapping them, why not say what you think?

          1. bdoons

            The beginning is the start of the it. Best place to start. It’s also the place that eventually leads one back to when having a conversation about this topic. I don’t have an agenda. I want people on both sides to say which the think it is and why.

        2. mildred st. meadowlark

          6 weeks is a very very narrow time scale, and, imo, much too restrictive. 12 weeks is generally considered acceptable because this is the time frame in which the pregnancy is least stable – ie when the highest number of miscarriages occur.

          Unless you religiously watch for your period, or it comes on the same date every month, or are actively trying to conceive a child, the chances of realising you are pregnant and having an abortion within that time are slim.

          So to legislate or quantify it for such a narrow time period would be a waste of time and money – again. Just as the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act failed to protect because it was too narrow in it’s parameters, and could be seen as a wasted opportunity.

          1. bdoons

            I agree and fully understand. It is a very narrow time frame. 12 weeks gives the mother a lot more time. But miscarriages or everything that happens from say week 5-6 up to 12 is irrelevant to the vast majority of fetus’ that make it past that stage. What happens in a few years when tech gets much better and a woman knows they’re pregnant much sooner? Do we have another vote?

          2. mildred st. meadowlark

            Most women don’t know they are pregnant until they hit roughly the 4 week mark. It’s unusual to know earlier than that. Think about why that might be.

            Your suggestion just doesn’t make sense. How much earlier do you think women ought to know? Our bodies send a fantastic monthly reminder, and trust me, when it doesn’t show, a woman will take notice. So how could technology possibly advance in such a way as to tell women earlier? A pregnancy test is not something we do for sh”ts and giggles, and we only take them when we suspect that our period is late. Do you see the point I’m attempting to make?

            Your counter argument is, frankly, senseless, when you take all of that into account. Unless we go completely mad 50 years down the line and have obligatory pregnancy tests for women.

            I don’t think we should ever rule out another vote on the issue. Every generation deserves a voice, and not just on this matter.

          3. bdoons

            Yes, that makes sense. 4 weeks. And two extra. So you’d agree that a ‘most women’ would know between 4 and 6 weeks. Let’s even say 8 weeks. So do you think its OK to have an abortion from from 8 weeks onwards ? Is there a cut off point?

          4. bad@memes

            Hypothicate to your non-existant heart all you like bdoons.
            Stop hitting yourself.

            The idea of a referendum terrifies you, you loser.
            Admit it… Your days are up, your legacy is embarrassing, your candle is burnt out…

            And your cloak is transparent.

          5. Nigel

            Surely the correct question is ‘when do most abortions occur?’ and work outwards ftom there since that’s the need that’s being met.

          6. kellma

            @ bdoons, you are very irritating. You should just go off and make up your own mind, make your own choice. See where I am going with this? You are just wasting time.

  4. Jocky

    I needed to see a premier league game once but the lack of teams in Ireland had a huge impact on me. I had to pay e100 to travel over to England to see a team and tbh I still think about it most days.

    1. bad@memes

      Stop being ambigious.
      Say what you’re dying to say.

      I accidently rode saomeone off of Broadsheet over a four-year period.
      I’m NOT proud of it.

      I would rather be celibate than repeat it.
      Oh Jeezus… the horror…

      Leave me alone, please.

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