Time to Act! 6th Annual March for Choice

The 6th Annual March for Choice takes place on Saturday the 30th of September, assembling at the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square from 1.30pm, before we march on Dáil Éireann at 2pm.

The theme of our March this year is Time to Act!

The Citizens’ Assembly report shows us the Irish people are pro-choice. We are ready for change.

The movement to repeal the 8th Amendment from the Irish constitution has gone from strength to strength. In March, Strike4Repeal saw thousands of people occupy O’Connell Bridge, and march on the Dail in the evening, with countless more on the streets in cities around Ireland and abroad, showing that the issue of abortion rights is not going away.

This year we have learned of young children sectioned under the Mental Health Act for seeking abortions, of suicidal women denied access to the abortion they’re entitled to under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act because their doctor doesn’t think they’re “suicidal enough”

Meanwhile in Northern Ireland women continue to be prosecuted for procuring their own abortions, even though the push to decriminalise abortion is growing in the rest of the UK.

We need full repeal of the 8th Amendment in the Republic of Ireland, and proper legislation in Northern Ireland. We need access to free, safe and legal abortion for all who need or want it. And we need it now.

We have waited too long. We have been patient for too long. We are tired of waiting.

We need to act. Our government needs to act. And YOU need to act!

Join us on September 30th to make your pro-choice voice heard, this is your last chance before a referendum is called.

It’s Repeal O’Clock. It’s Time to Act!

***********************************

VOLUNTEERS WANTED: Can you volunteer some time this September and help support the March for Choice 2017? We need people to help out in the lead up to the march, and on the day itself! Find out more and sign up here.

TRANSPORT TO THE MARCH
Find out all you need to know about getting to the March for Choice here.

MARCH ROUTE

We will assemble at 1:30 pm at The Garden of Remembrance, on Parnell Square, close to the Rotunda hospital where medical professionals are restricted in the care they can give their patients by the 8th Amendment.

We will be joined by groups and individuals who have travelled from all over the country to support those who are forced travel for abortion each year, as well as Students, Unions, Doctors, Midwives and other civil society organisations.

At 2pm the March will start, proceeding down O’Connell St. We will turn left at the quays marching towards The Custom House. This is where many of the confiscated packets of abortion pills, ordered by women unable to travel, end up. Please join us here if you wish to take part in the march but are unable to walk the full route.

We will then cross the Liffey moving towards the back entrance of Trinity College Dublin. The Trinity Students Union was one of those taken to the High Court in 1991 for giving out abortion information. This Students Union along with the USI and other student unions with a Pro Choice mandate will be marching with us.

We will then proceed onto Pearse St, passing by the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) head office. Since its founding, when contraception was still illegal, the IFPA has worked hard to get information to people and to provide services. As we pass by the Dart station we will think of the 1,000s of people who have had to travel each year. We march to end these journeys.

We will then approach Merrion Square and our National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street, which must send women away from its care each week due to our inhumane laws & the 8th Amendment.

Finally we will end of our March outside the Dáil Éireann, to hear from speakers, who will remind us that while the March maybe over for another year, the fight will go on until we Repeal the 8th Amendment and legislate for Free Safe and Legal abortion in Ireland.

Come Join us on the 30th of September. It’s Time To Act!

***********************************

GLOBAL MARCH FOR CHOICE

The Global March for Choice is organised by Repeal Global. They say:
Repeal the 8th is the fight in Ireland to get free, safe and legal access to abortion. Ireland has one of the strictest abortion laws in the world and 10-12 women leave Ireland every day to procure an abortion.

Abortion is illegal in almost ALL cases including rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormalities. We cannot live in a society where you lose your rights and bodily autonomy the second you become pregnant. These archaic laws need to be REPEALED!

On September 30th, we will once again be having a global march for choice, where we will stand in solidarity with the 6th annual march for choice in Dublin organised by the Abortion Rights Campaign to demand a referendum to repeal and not replace the 8th amendment. Last year over 30 cities took part in the event.

http://www.dailyedge.ie/irish-emigrants-repeal-the-8th-2993829-Sep2016/

Events have already been set up in some cities with more to follow. To set up an event in your area, PM us and we can help you get started. Big or small event, your voice counts! It’s time to Act 4 Repeal.

For more info on Ireland’s historically grim treatment of women read more here:

http://scarletbrigade.org/repeal-the-scarlet-repeal-the-8th/

Global Events:
London:
https://www.facebook.com/events/333023467110087/

Glasgow:
https://m.facebook.com/events/1907973436137069/

Edinburgh:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1896300127254005/

Aberdeen:
https://www.facebook.com/events/478760062492214/

Bristol:
https://www.facebook.com/events/120924461904343/?ti=icl

Paris:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1915013422104214/

Berlin:
https://www.facebook.com/events/344376306006710

Vancouver:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1839408359723147/

Montreal:
https://www.facebook.com/events/351324691991113/

New York:
https://www.facebook.com/events/454646491570919/

Brussels:
https://www.facebook.com/events/334752823632187/

Utrecht:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1981365078749564/

Luxembourg:
https://www.facebook.com/events/145575749367414/

Cyprus:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1750788695224590/

Manchester:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1410540445720505/

Liverpool:
https://www.facebook.com/events/364852557280558/?ti=icl

Melbourne:
https://www.facebook.com/events/129567017675707/

Sydney:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1851722855143120/?ti=icl

Darwin:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1858404104176374/