69 women travelled for abortions in 2016
SIXTY-NINE woman from County Wexford travelled to Britain for abortions in 2016, Health Minister Simon Harris revealed during the recent Dail debate on the report of the joint committee on the Eighth Amendment.
‘In 2016, 3,265 Irish women travelled to the UK alone and we know that Irish women travel to other countries like the Netherlands too,’ said the Minister.
‘Over 1,200 of the women who went to the UK were aged between 30 and 39 and over 1,500 were aged between 20 and 29. 255 were aged 40 or over. Ten were girls under the age of 16.
‘230 were teenagers. Over half of the women who travelled were married, in a civil partnership, or in a relationship. 85 per cent of the women were between three and 12 weeks pregnant.’
Mr Harris said it is estimated that at least 170,000 Irish women had travelled to other countries for abortions since 1980.
Mr Harris said we need to acknowlege all those who made deeply difficult decisions to travel for abortions.
‘Real women like the 36 from County Carlow who travelled to the UK for an abortion in 2016, or the 38 from Mayo, the 69 women from Tipperary, the 85 from Wicklow, the 241 from Cork or the 1,175 women from Dublin.
‘Women from every county in the Republic of Ireland travelled to the UK in 2016. I think we need to acknowledge them all... these are not faceless women. They are our friends and neighbours, sisters, cousins, mothers, aunts, wives. Each woman is dealing with her own personal situation and making what is a deeply difficult decision.’ THERE’S two reasons why I don’t do the school run. The first one is because I’m never cosmetically acceptable at that time in the morning and I don’t want to be responsible for scaring all the children going into school.
‘Aaaaaaaagh! Why does your mammy look like that?’ ‘Eh... because she’s got no make up on!’
The second reason, if I’m being totally honest, is because I would kill the two children before we even got to the bloody school, so in the interests of safety and keeping them alive, Himself does it.
I will admit I am not a morning person. There, I’ve said it. I am grumpy, monosyllabic and unable to string a coherent sentence together first thing in the morning. But
Oh My God. Getting my children to school would try the patience of a feckin saint. And I don’t mean that in a fond way!
The older one takes at least three wake up calls and the threat of violence before he ventures out of his bedroom to get his breakfast. The other one gets up fast enough but then sneaks back into bed after breakfast to catch a few extra minutes on her phone.
Their uniforms are laid out the night before by
Muggins, yet still there is a mad panic looking for various items such as ties, school shoes and PE gear. The Youngest spent ten minutes – ten full minutes – looking for the right socks this morning.
By right socks, I don’t mean the right colour. Oh no. I mean the right ‘feel.’
Five pairs were tried on and then abandoned before finding the ‘right ones’ by which time I was shouting and she was shouting back to not shout at her because I was ‘stressing her out.’
After that it was the usual check list, ‘did you brush your teeth?’, ‘Have you brushed your hair?’ ‘Where are your glasses?’ before the battle over who gets the front seat in the car ensues. ‘Just get into the bloody car before I kill the two of you!’ I bellow. I’m sure I could see the curtains across the road twitching. They were probably ringing Childline.
Amazingly only 10 minutes behind schedule, but still late, we make it onto the main road and into heavy school traffic, just as the Youngest shouts ‘Stop! I forgot my lunch!’ I will not repeat the profanities that came out of my mouth. Suffice to say there were a lot. I dropped them both to school, fit to be tied, then turned around, retrieved the forgotten lunchbox and dropped that off at school too.
Boarding school seems like a really good option right now.
THE OLDER ONE TAKES AT LEAST THREE WAKE UP CALLS AND THE THREAT OF VIOLENCE BEFORE HE VENTURES OUT OF HIS BEDROOM