To mark the two year anniversary of Ireland repealing the 8th, we’re inviting you to write your own Repeal story. Did you canvass? Leaflet drop? Speak to family, friends or colleagues about why they should vote YES? Then tell your story – why you got involved, what it meant to you, your hopes for the future – even if it’s just to yourself. 

The vote on May 25th 2018 was not the end of our fight (not by a long way) but it was a momentous step in the struggle to achieve free, safe, legal and local abortion for all. The stories of those who contributed to this historic moment – however big or small – deserve to be told. We hope that sharing these stories will provide some inspiration in the uncertain time of COVID-19 and will renew our dedication to advancing reproductive freedom.

If you’d like some inspiration, check out this great video from Rebels4Choice and ARC Member Kathy D’Arcy, available here. 

Self care

Writing your story can bring up a lot of emotions. Kathy shares some tips on self-care below. You might also want to have a read of this blog post written in the aftermath of the referendum. 

1. If you feel really emotional and need a quick, simple way to calm down, try counting the rainbow:

Try to find three red things in your surroundings: name them out loud to yourself (i.e: “Red flower, red book, red car”). Now find three orange things, three yellow things, and keep going until you’ve named three things for each colour of the rainbow – turning indigo and violet into one because they are hard colours to find! This listing helps to lift you out of panic.

Another physiological technique I find helpful for panic is:

• Sit on a chair and really tense your legs as though you’re about to stand, even lifting off the chair a bit. Keep them tensed until they start feeling fatigued, but don’t hurt yourself!
• Relax back to your original sitting position over a slow count of twenty.

2. For when you’re calmer and just need a way to close a session or help you out of some difficult feelings and reaffirm yourself, there are some beautiful free yoga nidra meditations on the Yoga Nidra Network website https://www.yoganidranetwork.org/downloads that can really help you relax – I particularly like Uma’s.

If you need further support, you can contact an organisation like the Samaritans on 116 123 or email [email protected] 

Want to share your story? 

If you have a Repeal story you’d like us to share as a blog post on our website or on social media, email it to: [email protected] with ‘Repeal Story’ in the subject heading. Try to keep written stories under 800 words and videos (including captions) under 1 minute. Please feel free to include any pictures that you want to accompany your story! We will try to publish as many as possible. 

We will copy-edit stories to correct any typos. Sometimes, we may suggest more substantial edits (e.g. to remove identifying features of other people mentioned). These will be discussed with you prior to publication.