Voting for Sligo women

Dear Editor,

My Yes Vote on May 25 th will be dedicated to all the Sligo women and girls who have either travelled abroad for terminations or who have taken illegal abortion pills at home which they ordered online.

In 2016 at least 29 women and girls from Sligo travelled to the UK to seek terminations. It is impossible to know how many more took abortion pills at home, without any medical supervision.

These are women that have been abandoned by this country during an extremely difficult time in their life.

Maybe one of these women was travelling because they discovered that the baby they had wanted had no chance of survival and they could not go through with the pregnancy knowing that the birth could be extremely painful for the baby if it survived that long.

Maybe one of these women was in an abusive relationship and felt that if they went through with the pregnancy they would be trapped for life.

Maybe one of them was a young girl who had become pregnant through rape and was not ready to become a mother as she was still only a child herself.

There are so many reasons why women and girls need access to abortion.

The figures above show that abortion is already a reality in Sligo.

As a child protection social worker, I have seen first hand the devastating impact that the 8th Amendment can have on the most vulnerable families in our community.

Repealing the 8th Amendment would simply make abor- tion safe and legal in Ireland.

This needs to happen so these women can be supported by their partners and family during this difficult time, instead of being exiled to another country or having to take abortion pills without medical supervision if they do not have the financial resources to travel.

Regards,

Rachel Brady

Strandhill Road,

Sligo