#TwoWomenTravel is trending on Twitter in Ireland and in the UK. What does the hashtag mean?
It means that two women travelling to the UK today, one for an abortion and one to support her, are using their personal experience to highlight the exportation of abortion from Ireland to the UK.
5000 Irish women make this journey every year.
To all of you. We hear you and we love you. Courage and solidarity ❤️ @EndaKennyTD #twowomentravel pic.twitter.com/hgGTnKGCIJ
— Two Women Travel (@TwoWomenTravel) August 20, 2016
Every tweet from @TwoWomenTravel is being addressed to Taoiseach Enda Kenny. The Taoiseach’s previous comments that a referendum on the repeal of the eighth amendment would not pass is being torn apart by public campaigns.
No Irish person under the age of 50 has had the choice to repeal or keep the 8th since it was introduced in 1983.
Both the UN and Amnesty International have called for Ireland to repeal the eighth amendment which gives equal rights to women and the unborn child. The current laws have been called ‘inhumane.’
The unfortunate part of #twowomentravel is that two more women will be on the plane after them, and two more before lunch #repealthe8th
— Daniel Waugh (@dm_waugh) August 20, 2016
Currently, an Irish woman faces up to 14 years in prison for getting an abortion.
This section of the constitution has directly led to the death of Irish women.
Crucially, however, when a woman dies from complications with pregnancy in Ireland, this is never listed as the cause of her death. One of the most infamous cases was that of Savita Halappanavar, who died in University Hospital Galway from septicemia after being told that, even though she was already miscarrying, the doctors could not perform a termination. She and her husband were informed that Ireland is ‘a Catholic country’.
Two Women Travel are being supported by thousands of others online who are calling for the eighth amendment to be repealed.
Love that they’re keeping @endakennyTD updated https://t.co/sxqqGCmdK5
— Graham Linehan (@Glinner) August 20, 2016
Today, @TwoWomenTravel but you’re not on your own in this. So many people are with you. X
— James Corden (@JKCorden) August 20, 2016
Theirs is an honest and undramatised account of what 12 Irish women go through every day. The Taoiseach, as yet, has not responded.
Main image; @TwoWomenTravel
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