Irish Abortion 'Journeys' Avoided in Election

national | gender and sexuality | other press Thursday May 24, 2007 17:45 by Dorothy Gale

an interesting article on the D case, Abortion and the hypocrisy which forces thousands of women to travel to Britain each to have abortion. In particular it highlights one womans experiences.

Irish Abortion 'Journeys' Avoided in Election
By Leela Jacinto
WeNews correspondent

Ireland's restrictive abortion ban causes thousands of women every year to "make the journey" abroad. Today's general elections are not expected to slow that migration after politicians largely avoided the incendiary topic.

On a bright but blustery summer morning barely four years ago, Rhonda K. "made the journey" from the southeastern Irish port of Dun Laoghaire to the English coast.

For centuries, Irish emigrants have followed the old sea route to England, fleeing their poverty-stricken land for a country that has, for the most part, politically repelled yet economically attracted them.

But the Celtic Tiger has been roaring for a decade now. Every week brings planeloads of European delegations eager to learn the secrets of the Irish economic miracle. Ireland's per capita annual income of $43,600 is second only to Luxembourg in the European Union.

The migrant trail has dramatically reversed, with more than 200,000 foreign workers arriving in Ireland since 2004.

Yet, thousands of Irish women each year continue to move in the opposite direction and leave the country, if only for a few days, under their own form of duress.