My understanding is that the 8th amendment (Article 40.3.3 of the Irish Constitution) means that it is currently not possible for new laws to be introduced that would make abortion available in Ireland except where a woman’s life is at risk. On May 25th Ireland will vote either to repeal the 8th amendment, therefore permitting a change in the laws surrounding abortion law in Ireland, or to maintain the 8th amendment which will prevent all changes to the abortion laws in Ireland.

I love Ireland, I long every day to go home. Great social change has occurred in Ireland in my lifetime (for context, I will be forty in 2020). My mother was not permitted to take higher level mathematics for leaving certificate because she was a woman (and don’t get her started on sneaking out on the nuns when she was in teacher training college). I remember my first boyfriend showing me condoms that his Dad had given him when we started going out that had expired many years before and which had been obtained in what I like to think of as Contraceptive Prohibition! Homosexuality was only decriminalised in Ireland in 1993 so you can imagine why Irish marriage equality was one of the most celebrated victories for equal rights in the history of any country.

For me a vote to Repeal in the referendum on May 25th is just another step in the direction in which a great little nation will provide proper protection and rights for its citizens. My belief on this is simple, a woman has the right to decide what to do with her body. I make no arguments for it because for me it is that black and white.

That brings me to this hat. I am deeply awed by people who get out and protest. I want people, who are arguing this case and demonstrating for what I believe to be a fundamental right of women, to be warm. I have no legal skills or knowledge to construct carefully argued points nor a platform on which to argue the case for voting to repeal so this is my small gesture towards it.

If you wish to read more about the 8th amendment, my uni friends who are vastly qualified to write in this area, have created a very balanced page with a lot of detail around many of the questions that people may have. You can find it here:

https://aboutthe8th.com

I have made this pattern free rather than donate any proceeds as I am unclear about the provision of overseas business funding to campaigns in Ireland.

However, if you would like to make a contribution to the travel of a recent emigrant who has the vote in Ireland and is returning to vote Repeal in the referendum, checkout @abroadforyes on Twitter to see how to take part.

Also if you are Irish or an Irish citizen aboard, you can support the following crowdfunded campaign:
https://togetherforyes.causevox.com