UCD Student Union President Katie Ascough has been impeached.
The impeachment began when Ascough, who is prominently pro-life, reneged that her position on the topic would not interfere with the union’s pro-choice position on abortion.
With a total turnout of 6,111, 69% of students voted in favour of impeachment, while 31% voting against.
The final vote tally was as follows:
FINAL RESULTS:
Ag: Total: 410 Yes: 316 No: 93
Health Sci: Yes: 544 No: 399
Eng: Total: 593 Yes: 380 No: 209#UCD #Impeachmentreferendum #UCDObserver— University Observer (@UCDObserver) October 26, 2017
The petition for the impeached began to be circulated after Ascough’s decision to remove information on abortion from the Winging It magazine, which is distributed to new students in UCD.
The information removed from the magazine included details on obtaining information safely, how to purchase abortion pills online and price lists for abortion clinics outside of Ireland.
Ascough maintains that the cost of the reprinting of the magazine outweighed the potential fines levelled at the school for printing the information, whereas the students calling for her impeachment say that such information has been published for the last 20 years with no such repercussions.
Speaking after the final vote was announced, Ascough said (via The Independent): “This is a sad day for me, but it is also a sad day for our university. Universities should be a place of freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of association.”
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