Though the addition of Meghan Markle into the royal family was intended to connote moving into the future (which Get Out threw shade at in terms of how white people use black people to feel apart of that future), it seemed that one part of the U.K. was still hopelessly trapped in the past: Ireland. With its insanely strict abortion law that forced an average of seven to nine Irish women a day to seek dicier options in other nearby cities in order to get one. The adjective “dicey” being used because women must wait longer than they should to access the medical care they need to, as Juno would say, “procure a hasty abortion.” Often times, the procedure is also more expensive because Irish women are getting care outside of their own country, where insurance would otherwise be provided.
The eight amendment, passed in 1983, a highly conservative time in the U.K.–and throughout the world–stated, “The state acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.” Over the decades since the referendum was put into effect, several problematic cases arose indicating just how inhumane the law was. For example, Savita Halappanavar’s death in 2012 (the year we all died) could have been prevented had the doctors given her an abortion when her deteriorating health demanded it. Instead, they denied her the option in compliance with part of the eighth amendment that insists upon “the right to life of the unborn.” Even earlier on, in 1992, “Case X,” as it was called, set the precedent of “a real and substantial risk” to the mother’s life, a fourteen-year-old girl who became pregnant through rape, when she was barred from traveling to Britain for an abortion. Her depression over the thought of keeping the baby was making her suicidal, eventually opening up a rare loophole in the amendment that permitted her the chance to terminate the pregnancy.
Even after, however, there were numerous attempts to repeal the threat of a woman’s suicide as a means for her to “evade” the law. And now, with a brand new wave of feminism afoot in the twenty-first century thanks to women realizing they can’t coast on the landmark of Roe vs. Wade forever when it comes to their abortion rights, Irish women from throughout the globe traveled home to cast their vote for Yes to repeal on the referendum. Recently new to the role of prime minister, Leo Varadkar commented, “The people have spoken. The people have said that we want a modern constitution for a modern country, that we trust women and we respect them to make the right decision and the right choices about their health care.”
Gee, thanks for the “vote” of confidence. You can trust little old us with what we do to our own fucking bodies. In any case, now that abortion is legal in Ireland, expect a dip in air, train or boat travel from that area to other places in the U.K., Holland and Spain. May 25th was a win for vaginas, but perhaps a loss for certain industries that thrive on desperation.
