Women in Manchester stood in solidarity against restrictive Irish abortion laws on Saturday in St. Peter’s Square.
The protest hosted five speakers including Choice for Ireland, a worldwide movement who believe women should have the choice to choose what happens to their body.
Dr Deidre Duffy, a representative of Choice for Ireland Manchester, led the speeches and spoke of the 300 Irish women a month who make the journey to the United Kingdom to undergo a safe termination.
She said women with the privilege need to make noise for those who don’t.
It is a criminal offence in Northern and the Republic of Ireland to have an abortion under the 1861 Offences Against the Persons Act and the 8th Amendment to the Constitution respectively, with a 14-year prison sentence in the Republic.
In March, women in Ireland went on strike to protest the strict anti-abortion laws as part of direct action to make the government pay attention to growing frustration, echoing a similar protest in Poland in 2016.
The small protest was organised by the Women’s March Manchester coordinators, Pamela Berry and Jennifer Langton-Sneyd.
Although turn-out was small, Pamela, 32, said she felt like they still achieved something as passers by stopped to listen to the speeches.
Jennifer, 33, said: “Even if [the protest] starts off a conversation in a handful of families, we have no idea what kind of knock on effect that is going to have.”
For more information head to the Pro-Choice Campaign Facebook page.
If you're in Dublin, meet me on the Bridge at 12:30#strike4repeal #wewontwait pic.twitter.com/V94XPTm5fP
— Strike4Repeal (@strike4repeal) March 4, 2017
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