Vote

So today and tomorrow, the 23rd and 24th of November, UCC students have the chance to vote on whether or not the Student’s Union should campaign to repeal the 8th amendment to the Irish Constitution. If you’re a business and law student you can vote in the ORB, arts students can vote in the Boole Basement, SEFS can vote in the lobby of the Kane and Med and Health students can vote in Brookfield. These stations remain the same for elections in the second semester as well so bear that in mind.This is the first time anyone in their teens, twenties and thirties will be able to have any kind of say on abortion rights in Ireland and while a yes or a no here doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of thing it does mean something. The Student’s Union is there to act in the best interest of students in many areas ranging from sexual health to mental health, fees to accommodation, to deal with hard times and hopefully provide some good ones. In this instance I sympathise with members of the SU taking a neutral stance in their professional roles, I can’t imagine taking a strong visible stance on this issue will endear more students to the SU than it would anger. With that said though I am under no such obligation to not anger students.Having studied politics I could prattle on with theories around elections and the tyranny of the majority, about human rights and moral ethics but I won’t. What this entire thing boils down to for me is that I feel I have no right to say what a person can or cannot do with their body. This goes doubly for people who find themselves pregnant and seeking an abortion in Ireland for any reason. The fear of needing to travel to a foreign place under the cover of darkness to avail of what that country considers a basic health service is not a situation myself or I imagine many reading this will ever find themselves in. For those that do though so much of this trauma can be mitigated by just repealing the 8th and allowing for the introduction of basic abortion rights. While I’ve seen No siders say there are alternatives, where’s the palliative care facilities and any other range of arguments distract from the the fact that studies around abortion service users have shown no ill effect to actually having an abortion, I’m yet to see Yes siders do anything but appeal to reason and highlight the experiences of people who the 8th amendment has personally damaged. If you’re on the fence then please, just do your own research and come to a conclusion. A yes vote here doesn’t mean the 8th is suddenly destroyed or we have “abortion on demand”, it just enables the SU to lobby, the same as they did on the Marriage Equality Referendum and on other issues which affect students. This will grow into a larger, likely quite messy campaign but it is one I hope to see students take a part in. It could one day help you, your sister, mother or partner.