This coming week in Ireland there will be a big referendum. This referendum could either bring Ireland into the 21st century or keep it back on women's rights.
One thing that I like about the Irish governmental system is the usage of referendums to look at big changes in social law. Letting the people decide which direction they would like go when it comes to changes, ie Divorce, Gay Marriage. This time it is the Abortion debate.
Coming from Canada the debate took 20 years with several people arrested , convicted and acquited several times and changed without the people making that decision (supreme court and parliament). Here is a link to the time line when Canadian law changed and the long battle for it to legal under Canadian Law (http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/timeline-cdn-abortion-rights/) This battle is raging still in Canada but on a more local level. Protesters are still allowed to protest in front of clinics. There is a battle in Alberta right now in regards to where they are allowed to protest in order to allow staff and others attending the clinic come and go safely.
In Ireland, the debate is raw and new to so many. I honestly can't tell you where it will end up on the 25th, but it is interesting to watch both sides debate, sometimes fairly sometimes taking cheap shots at each other. Personally, the focus as been too much on the abortion and not the overall women's health issues that surround pregnancy. There is still a bit of a stigma for women to be on birth control. If this was not such a sigma then the chances of having to grapple with an awful decision due to an unexpected pregnancy would reduce. Maybe changing how woman are helped before and during pregnancy would reduce this debate a bit. Having better sex education, socially making it less of an issue to talk about this in public (just as we are advocating to make it easier for people with depression to talk about it). By allowing people to talk about sex and reproduction without feeling shamed would be a very big step.
From my stand, I do not believe that abortion is always the correct way, but who am I to tell anyone what they should do with their own body. I am acutely aware that decisions make in regards to this are never taken lightly and no matter the decision the people involved will be changed forever.
For my Irish friends on Steemit, please just register and go vote, whatever your answer is (YES or NO).