Open Letter to Regina Doherty, TD and member of Oireachtas Health Committee

Today's letter in the "Tell a Fine Gael TD" campaign is to Regina Doherty. She is a TD from Meath East and is also on the Oireachtas Committee for Health and Children.

Dear Ms. Doherty,

You've stated publicly that “the State should act” to legislate for abortion in cases where a woman's life is at risk and that you are “95% ready” to support a bill. I understand that there has been a lot of pressure coming at you from your party and from other interest groups to keep the status quo, and therefore I appreciate the courage it takes to oppose that pressure and do what you feel is right for women in Ireland.

As a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, you are in a particularly influential position to ensure that the Heads of Bill achieves its objectives. In order for that to happen, some important changes need to be made.

First of all, we can all agree that “the unborn” is not a medical term and should not be used in legislation meant to supply guidance for medical intervention. Secondly, the Heads of Bill requires an excessive number of medical opinions in every single case. The time and logistics involved in obtaining so many medical professionals' verdicts will prohibit women from receiving timely medical care. In the case of risk to life from self-destruction, you have to be lucky enough to be somewhere registered by the Mental Health Commission where there happens to be an Ob/Gyn who can perform an abortion in addition to two psychiatrists. Do we even know how many such clinics exist in Ireland? The suicidal woman with mental illness is then faced with the degrading task of convincing three people of her suicidality. If one of them doesn't believe her, she will be forced to endure the appeals process of repeating the experience, and will have to wait two weeks. The process is designed to force these women into suicide or travel. If the woman doesn't have the means to travel, suicide it will likely be.

You seem to have compassion for X, Ms. Doherty, a girl who was impregnated by her rapist. Thousands of women are raped every year in Ireland, and approximately 7% of them become pregnant as a result. Women in these traumatic situations who become suicidal shouldn't have to beg for mercy from up to six doctors to be treated in Ireland. They deserve to be listened to, respected, and cared for.

The proposal that women who are found guilty of self-aborting in the country (as opposed to traveling) will result in nothing short of a witch hunt. Furthermore, a 14 year jail sentence reflects a serious anti-woman agenda considering that male rapists in Ireland are convicted at the rate of 1% and generally spend less than 7 years in jail. I understand that anti-abortion lawmakers want to send a clear message that they don't want abortion in Ireland, but at what cost? Many women, having self-induced a medical abortion (aka the “abortion pill”), will not pursue the necessary follow-up care for fear of prosecution. Incomplete abortions are rare, but they do occur. In those instances, lack of medical treatment can result in infertility and death.

In today's Irish Independent, Enda Kenny is reported to have said that “the bill affirms, rather than weakens, Ireland's general ban on abortion.” As it stands, he is correct. There are so many impediments in the bill that it will surely fail to protect the lives and rights of pregnant women. But that is surely not the intention set forth by the Oireachtas Health Committee and the rest of the Dail. At least, I hope not. The 92% of Irish people who want legislation on the X case ruling and the EU Court of Human Rights ruling are trusting you to act on our behalf. We hope you have the courage to stand against political pressure from your party and stand up for women in Ireland.

Sincerely,
Angela Coraccio

An Open Letter to Lucinda Creighton

Open Letter to Lucida Creighton:

Dear Ms. Creighton,

As a non-national resident of Ireland, I do, as you recommend, reflect on the privilege I enjoy every day in this country, particularly as an educated caucasian woman with a loving husband. But when you use that collective "we," you assume that every woman in Ireland is like you. A short walk around Dublin will prove otherwise. Women in poverty, migrant women, asylum seekers, women in abusive relationships being controlled by their partners, and women too ill to travel live here too. Is it not the duty of us privileged people to ensure that they have the same access to their rights as we do?

You mention that we live in a "free" society here in Ireland while simultaneously trying to argue that women shouldn't be allowed to have bodily autonomy, which in my opinion is the most basic human right there is.

Furthermore, I am disappointed that you felt the need to claim you have "no respect" for the "hysterical" opinions of Olivia O'Leary in such a public manner, claiming her arguments are not rational. These are the exact ways in which patriarchy has been characterising women's opinions as invalid for centuries. To accuse another woman of hysteria rings of self-hatred and serves to give the world permission to dismiss vocal women, including yourself. How can you "respect the right of everyone to speak freely and honestly" immediately after you've just said you have no respect for someone else's honest opinion?

I myself have been trying to conceive a child for nearly two years. However, I would never allow my experiences with infertility colour my views on how other women view their pregnancies. Your implication that because some women can't become pregnant, women who are pregnant need to carry those pregnancies to term is slightly outrageous, particularly since adoption laws in Ireland are so restrictive. If a disabled person can't run, she doesn't demand that all able people should take up running.

But perhaps the most alarming statements in your blog are about late term abortions. You and I both know that the overwhelming number abortions happen in very early stages. I believe your misleading comment comparing late term abortions to premature births was meant to whip up people's emotions. I suppose that's what politicians do. But it doesn't reflect the rationality you claim to own. We're supposed to be talking about the current proposed bill, which is supposed to put into place measures to save a pregnant woman's life. Conjuring up images of baby killing helps no one. It only makes you look like you don't understand the issues. Have you even bothered to read the Heads of Bill?

Women should be guaranteed effective acces to their right to termination when there is a risk to their lives. Suicide is a real risk to a person's life. I don't know if you have ever suffered from mental health issues, or if you have ever known someone who has committed suicide, but I do, and I feel strongly that a suicidal woman would not survive the scrutiny outlined in this proposed Bill. If a woman, to avoid this exploitive evaluation process, doesn't have the "privilege" of traveling for an abortion, she effectively hasn't been guaranteed her right.

Furthermore, criminalising women who self-induce abortions is unacceptable because it would result in women in medical crisis being afraid of seeking medical attention for fear of prison time. Did you know that the average prison sentence for a rapist is 5 years? A woman who is impregnated by her rapist who takes the abortion pill (which, by the way, can only be taken in the earliest stages of pregnancy) could spend more than twice the time in jail as her rapist. So instead of "protecting life," the Bill puts the health and lives of women who have self-induced abortions dangerously at risk.

We all get the privilege you feel, Ms. Creighton. You have shouted it from the rooftops. But to claim that Ireland is serving all its population to the best of its ability is frankly a false claim and makes you sound like you don't recognise others' experiences of living here which are vastly different to your own. I wonder, how can you be a representative of the people if you don't even acknowledge their realities?

Sincerely,
Angela Coraccio
Dublin

Can you believe how good I am? I'm really on it!

Today I went down to Buswell's hotel for a press conference by the Action on X campaign. This is a really important campaign that will hopefully gain momentum over the coming months.

For those of you who don't know (probably most of my readers), the "X case" isn't a new reality TV show, but rather a court case from 1992 when a 14-year-old girl, called "X" was raped in Ireland by a neighbor and became pregnant. I'm just going to quote from Wikipedia here: "Before the abortion was carried out, the family asked the [police] if DNA from the aborted foetus would be admissible as evidence in the courts, as the neighbour was denying responsibility. Hearing that X planned to have an abortion, the Attorney General, Harry Whelehan, sought an injunction under Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution of Ireland (which outlaws abortion) preventing her from having the procedure carried out. The injunction was granted by Justice Declan Costello in the High Court." So basically, X and her parents went to England for an abortion and they were forced to return to Ireland before it could be carried out. The case went to Ireland's Supreme Court, where X basically won her right for an abortion based on the fact that her own life was in "real and substantial risk" (via suicide). Strangely, the court ruled that a woman in Ireland has a right to an abortion if her life is at risk, but not if her health is at risk. How they draw the distinction is beyond me, but there you have it. So X later had a miscarriage, but there was never any legislation put in place -- in other words the ruling did not become law. (By the way, her rapist was sentenced to 14 years in prison, served 4, and then became a taxi driver, which gave him the opportunity to subsequently rape a 15 year old girl. He only got 3 and a half years for that. But I digress...)

There has also been the A, B, and C case in the European courts, which was won, but no legislation has even been proposed by government. They've put together some kind of "expert committee" which is basically their way of kicking the ball down the road.

SO - 1992 was 20 years ago. Action on X is trying to push for legislation to finally get going. It's just getting going, and today's press conference marks the true beginning of the campaign. There were four speakers and a chair with about thirty people in attendance.

photo by Clare B

There's a short article about the event and the campaign HERE. There's also a really interesting timeline of the X case HERE.

Anyone interested in this cause can find Action on X on Facebook and there's a public meeting on February 21st at the Gresham Hotel. I'll definitely be posting more about this as events unfold!