Who needs your Yes?
Published: Tuesday, July 03, 2018
In the final phase of the referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment, NWCI launched its 'Who needs your yes?' campaign, calling on voters to think about the women and girls in their life when voting on May 25th.
At the launch event, NWCI premiered the short film ‘Who needs your Yes?’. The film highlights the harm of the 8th Amendment by featuring testimonies of family members of women who were forced to travel abroad for abortion care.
Speakers at the event highlighted the harmful impact of the 8th Amendment on all women and the widespread support for its removal in both urban and rural areas. They also showed that the campaign brought together long term campaigners for reproductive rights with many young women who have become mobilised over recent years.
Speakers included Tess Murphy, Longford Women’s Link; Grainne Healy, former Chairperson of NWCI and former Co-Director of Yes Equality; Laura Harmon, Women in Leadership Coordinator, NWCI and former President of the Union of Students in Ireland; Professor Mary Higgins, Consultant Obstetrician/Gynaecologist, National Maternity Hospital, Orla O’Connor, Director of NWCI and Co-Director of Together for Yes and Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop, Chairperson, NWCI.
In the lead up to the campaign launch, hundreds of NWCI supporters used the hashtag #WhoNeedsYourYes to share who they will be thinking of when voting yes on May 25th.
Here are some of the Tweets:
Vicky Phelan @PhelanVicky May 17
I am voting Yes for the women of Ireland who have been let down by our health service and by our government time and time again. If we really want women to be placed at the centre of their own care, Vote Yes to allow us to make the choice about our own care #WhoNeedsYourYes
Katie Cunningham @kslybacon May 15
I’m voting yes for every woman whose pregnancy was not a source of happiness but rather one of pain, despair and grief. I don’t need to know your reasons. I trust you to make the right decision for you and your family. #WhoNeedsYourYes
Ellen Whelan @watermellen_ May 24
My yes is for the 17 year old girl I know who travelled, terrified of her family finding out, in the middle of her leaving cert. #WhoNeedsYourYes #TogetherforYes
Rebek’ah @Ormakapay May 14
#WhoNeedsYourYes If I needed to, I could travel, but I shouldn’t have to. My Yes is for our sisters in direct provision, for migrant women who make up 40% of maternal deaths,for the litany of nameless,faceless women our country has let down.For Savita #RepealThe8th #Together4yes
Michael McCarthy @mickmccart May 16
#WhoNeedsYourYes My 3-year-old daughter. I don't want her to ever have to go through what her mother went through. I hope she never has to choose but I want her to have a choice. A choice that will keep her in Ireland being cared for by wonderful doctors like her mother #men4yes