‘sup?
Lisa O’Brien tweetz:
“This poor dog looks scared and lost in Rathmines [this evening]. He has a collar but I couldn’t get hold of him.”
Anyone?
Further to this week’s events and the request [details below] by two French filmmakers to talk to women who have sought an abortion in England, Broadsheet commenter Liggy writes:
It’s all very well kicking around the subject of abortion, the wrongs and rights, the political and the reality, the pomp and the circumstance but most women who have had one know the reality….
17 years ago, I had an abortion.
The boat from Cork to Swansea, long distance mainline rail train and the underground to Camden in London.
I remember being surprised that there were so many trees in that part of London. I was expecting it to be all concrete buildings and pavements.
The Marie Stopes clinic was in a huge old red-brick house. When I got there, I was given a sympathetic interview with a doctor and a nurse who were there to help me decide what to do for the best. There was no pressure to decide one way or the other. Just a promise of support either way.
I decided to go through with it,
No food or drink the night before, a fitful sleep in a local B’n’B owned by a Greek woman who the clinic recommended. She had some heartbreaking tales to tell of the girls that had stayed there before. There were no names, no faces to associate with the tales of rape, incest, slavery, money controlling husbands running off and life threatening medical conditions that a pregnancy would have made worse. The police were called but sometimes they could do very little. The clinic was the only hope of a life for most of these women.
The next morning, up early, back to the clinic, changed into my bedclothes, given the gas to help me fall asleep. Procedure. A lot of drug induced sleep. Some Tea. More deep exhausted drug inspired sleep. Some toast and tea. Sunlight coming through the blinds. Shallow sleep. Breakfast and discharge.
The boat back was the longest journey of my life but I read the 20p books I bought in a bundle from an Oxfam shop to pass the time. I also stuffed the stained Mickey mouse nightshirt that I wore during the procedure into a bin in one of the toilets. I did not want it any more. I felt guilty for leaving it for some poor cleaner to find.
I bled for a week afterwards and after that it was over. I was no longer pregnant and my body was returning back to normal.
That is all that is involved. The rest, like some of the above and the 100s of other posts on here are just opinions from various parties with vested interests trying to stop women from making a choice or promote their own agenda. How I became pregnant or my reasons for having an abortion are not political footballs to be kicked about by those who want to point score or scream “my view is right” the loudest.
I made a choice and it was the right one. I neither regret it nor take pride in it. It was just something that had to be done. I wish that my fellow Irishwomen had the same option in their own country, the chance to make a medical choice. That choice could be yes or could be no. We are in charge of ourselves enough to be able to decide.
Previously: Have You Taken The Boat?
(Getty)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFCQ85906Zk&start=661&end=851]
Last night on Al Jazeera’s ‘The Stream’, presented by Malika Bilal and Femi Oke, the subject of abortion was debated by Bishop of Elphin Kevin Doran, Doctors for Choice representative Dr Mary Favier, Seána Stafford of the Pro Life Campaign and Sarah McCarthy of Galway Pro-Choice.
We pick it up at the 11 minute mark.
Malika Bilal: “So what resources are there?”
Dr Mary Favier: “The resources are very limited and you’ve got to remember that for a woman who is faced with a crisis pregnancy and they want to end the pregnancy. Remember this woman was viciously raped. She didn’t just want to end the pregnancy, she wanted to not have a baby in these circumstances, with all types of cultural implications in her community for being an unmarried parent. I mean there are very significant issues here. In an Irish context there is no solution to that. This law is flawed because it doesn’t protect rape victims, it doesn’t protect those who are survivors of incest, those who have fatal foetal abnormalities and we thought it might protect those at suicide risk and it has failed this woman. Because I’d ask the bishop…”
Bishop Kevin Doran: [Talks over] “Does the baby not have any rights?”
Favier: “Just a second, Bishop. I’d ask the bishop, what would he suggest have been done? Should she have been tied down? Tied up? She already had court orders to act to hydrate her. What was his plan for 15 more weeks?”
Femi Oke: “Dr Favier, allow the bishop to answer and also Seána, I can see you wanting to jump in there as well so I’ll get to you in just a moment. Go ahead, Bishop.”
Doran: “Yeah, I think the answer to that question is that she should have been provided with proper psychiatric care from the moment she presented. Unfortunately, it seems her first contacts were with a private family planning agency which is a commercial operation and which is not set out to provide psychiatric care but only to provide a response to crisis pregnancy in terms of referring people on perhaps for abortion. But in my understanding the problem is she wasn’t provided with proper psychiatric care and I have to say that one of the challenges..”
Favier: “I feel it is the State who failed her rather than any individual institution.”
Doran: “She didn’t present to the State until she was nearly 20 weeks pregnant.”
Favier: “This woman didn’t necessarily have psychiatric problems. There is very good evidence to show that it’s only when women are denied access to abortion that their mental health deteriorates…”
Doran: “Nonsense I’m afraid.”
Favier: “…and this woman is an obvious example. She became suicidal because she was denied the opportunity to have her pregnancy terminated.”
Doran: “That’s absolute nonsense.”
Favier: “It was accepted that she should go to the UK because for your worldwide listeners you might think there is no abortion provided in Ireland. But there’s up to 4,000 every year in the UK and at least another 1,000 who are thought to have abortion online through medication pills. So Ireland does have abortion we just don’t have it in this country. And if you’re well-educated, middle class, affluent and can afford the €1,000 to get there, we sweep it under the carpet and say it doesn’t happen. But for women with disability who have no money, who are in this case have no right to travel in terms of documents. They’re the women who fall victim and foul of the State. And the State and its institutions like the Health Service Executive need to take responsibility. They failed this woman ever before she had mental health problems.”
Oke: “Alright, Dr Mary Favier take a breath for a moment because again, I personally find it upsetting that we’re unpacking one particular young woman teenager’s case. But we’re talking about an actual law.”
Previously: Staying In Tonight?
Decent name, in fairness.
Sarah writes:
“Are you guys doing an In Bruges and hiding out at the Belgian coast?”
The book of condolence to former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, who died yesterday, at Fianna Fail Headquarters, Mount Street, Dublin this afternoon.
(Sam Boal/Photocall Iireland)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U7kcwiFsVM
What you may need to know:
1. Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) wakes up one morning to find horns growing from his forehead. As you do.
2. The horns have the inexplicable effect of causing complete strangers to share their deepest secrets and impulses. Like Ryan Tubridy.
3. This horror/comedy is based on the novel by Stephen King’s son, Joe Hill. Some of you may remember him as Billy, the creepy kid in George A. Romero’s Creepshow (1987), written by his dad.
4. Daniel Radcliffe has admitted that he’s not the greatest actor but we hear he rocked in The Cripple of Inishmaan on Broadway.
5. It can’t be easy growing up on screen – just ask Shia LaBeouf. He was originally down to play the lead but had some issues.
6. Broadsheet Prognosis: Harry Potter gets the horn.
Release Date: October 31.
(DelBoy is away. Mark blogs about film, TV and other stuff at WhyBother.ie)
http://vimeo.com/104090524
Jessie Lyons – boxer, model and physiotherapist.
Eoin Kiernan tweetz:
“You might like this. A new light on the people of Limerick from the Fusion Limerick and Platform 74 team….”
Pictures by Random Irish Photos today of the second Asian elephant calf born at Dublin Zoo this year.
The healthy unnamed male calf was born to mother Anak at 6.24am on Tuesday weighing in at 70kg.
He will join the rest of the herd – Bernhardine, Asha, Yasmin and her new calf which was born last month, mum Anak and Dad Upali in the Kaziranga Forest Trail at Dublin Zoo which is sponsored by The Natural Confectionery Company.
Auditory Stagnation (2012) by Su Jeong Yi
Defiantly attired also.
AF writes:
Ashtown Castle in the Phoenix Park just now.