Hello ladies, gentlemen, and those wise enough to have transcended the binary and welcome to our demo to mark the 14th annual March for Choice & International Safe Abortion Day. I’m Lauran Kilmartin, co-convenor of the Abortion Rights Campaign. Why are we still here? Isn’t this all dealt with? Didn’t we vote for this legislation ages ago? Like 7 years ago right?

Well actually we didn’t.

We voted to remove the 8th amendment, which they did. This allowed the government to legislate for abortion. But what it also means is that this could all just as quickly be taken away. There is a wave of political conservatism sweeping the world and we can’t let it diminish our rights or the rights of the most vulnerable in our society. Misinformation and scaremongering have always been a tactic of the Far Right & the Anti-Choice lobby but it’s now playing on the fears & concerns of people and exploiting them to target those who most need our help.

United Against Racism have a march today which I encourage you all to attend after this. They want to show the Far Right in our communities that we are the nation of a hundred thousand welcomes. And we will not stand for violence and hate against those enriching Irish society. Because while the focus may not be on you or your rights at the moment, they will come for you. The machines of hate don’t stop after a small win, they will keep rolling until we all face subjugation and oppression.

We are here to make sure our hard fought rights aren’t taken away.

The evidence of what can happen when we get complacent, when we let the relentless antagonising of the Far Right and Anti Choice lobby seep in unchallenged into our political landscape.

Look at England, prosecuting women for pregnancy loss and forcing them to undergo police interrogations when they should be receiving medical treatment, because while allowed in certain circumstances abortion is not decriminalised there. Look at Poland, rolling back its access, where pregnant people die needlessly while doctors stand by because they can’t intervene in cases where the pregnancy threatens life for fear of prosecution. And probably the most dramatic turnabout in recent times, the USA; where we see the decades long right to abortion access disappear overnight when a more conservative government and supreme court flip the switch on reproductive rights.

We are not immune to these political changes.

Our rights are not so secure that the malefactors working against free, safe, legal, local abortion services won’t have their way.

But we can not allow them to take away our rights. We must make our voices heard and stand firm that the only acceptable level of care in this country is free, safe, legal, local, accessible abortion services throughout the island of Ireland. We are here to fight to keep our hard fought rights, but we are also here to fight against the barriers to reproductive healthcare that still remain. Abortion needs to be decriminalised in all forms. Doctors and healthcare professionals cannot be subjected to the threat of criminal sanctions hanging over their medical best practice decisions. No other healthcare is governed in this way.

The 3-day waiting period to receive abortion care is cruel, medically unnecessary, and creates huge logistical problems for doctors. It shows that we STILL don’t trust women, don’t trust their decisions about their own bodies. And it continues a practice of medical misogyny that has plagued women’s healthcare throughout the ages.

We need to eliminate the narrow window of the 12 week cut off. A barrier at such an early stage of pregnancy, coupled with the unnecessary addition of the 3 day wait, causes additional struggles for pregnant people and is still forcing many to travel abroad for care.

Over 1200 people have had to contact Abortion Support Network and travel for care since Repeal. A huge portion of these people are dealing with foetal anomalies. The bureaucratic and restrictive 28 day rule adds additional trauma on what is already a heartbreaking diagnosis. Being told by your doctor there is nothing they can do for you, because of a repressive piece of legislation that neglects the care of the pregnant person and their physical and mental health. These barriers also disproportionately impact migrants, refugees, and people living in Direct Provision who face the additional obstacles of visas and travel permissions when accessing healthcare.

The most cruel barrier, in my opinion, is one we’ve been promised a solution to even before Repeal. In 2017, as Minister for Health, Simon Harris said that his department was “genuinely taking action on [rogue crisis pregnancy clinics and counselling centres]” and yet here we stand 8 years later while organisations lie to and manipulate people in vulnerable situations. How cruel do you have to be to decide that when someone is seeking genuine help and medical advice that it should be your place to make them feel fear and shame and anxiety?

We cannot allow these barriers to healthcare to remain and we will continue to fight to make our voices heard.

Our fight, our struggle is a shared struggle with reproductive justice activists around the world and we will continue to stand with and support our siblings in this fight. We stand with those fighting globally for justice, because there is no justice while one group remains oppressed. We stand with the people of Palestine, suffering under genocide. We stand with those taking part in the UAR march today speaking against racism and supporting the rights of migrants and of refugees. We stand with sex workers and our Trans siblings in the shared fight for bodily autonomy for all.

Our struggle is a shared one and we will fight together to achieve freedom, justice and rights for all peoples.