Storm Emma emphasised the need to remove the Eighth Amendment

Published: Friday, April 13, 2018

NWCI said that as transport and travel services were cancelled and curtailed it emphasised why we must remove the Eighth Amendment from the Constitution and recognise the need for abortion care in Ireland. 

Orla O’Connor, Director of NWCI said,

“As airports close, and flights, trains and buses were cancelled due to Storm Emma, it is a stark reminder of the challenges for women with a crisis pregnancy trying to travel to access abortion care. The Eighth Amendment means that women and girls who need to end a pregnancy must travel outside Ireland, or order pills online, to do so. On days where flights and ferries are cancelled, we can see clearly that the importance of the summer referendum to remove the Eighth Amendment, so that we can introduce a caring and compassionate reproductive healthcare system for women in Ireland. For the women and couples who travelled during that week to access abortion care, often in secrecy and at a high personal cost, the weather only increased the uncertainty and worry they faced at a vulnerable time.”

Read our full response to effect of the bad weather conditions for women and couples travelling here.