For Travelers to Ireland, Luggage Tags Make Statement on Abortion
The white luggage tags — sold by an organization based in London, where Irish women often travel to receive the procedure — bear the message: "HEALTHCARE NOT AIRFARE #Reapealthe8th #TrustWomen." The tags refer to the Eighth Amendment to Ireland’s Constitution, which in 1983 banned abortion in nearly all cases and committed the nation to the principle
that a pregnant woman and her fetus have an "equal right to life."
Travelling home to Ireland for Christmas, thinking about the 11 women a day who make the journey to Britain to access reproductive healthcare.#choice4xmas #Repealthe8th #TrustWomen #HealthCareNotAirFare pic.twitter.com/eqMWexvI2g But next year, Ireland is expected to vote in a referendum
that could give the government the freedom to ease restrictions on abortion.
22, 2017
LONDON — As travelers board flights to Ireland and Northern Ireland for the Christmas holiday, they are finding themselves in the
company of fliers toting a message on their luggage tags about the journey women on the island must make to have an abortion.
Caitlin said that At Stansted heading home for Christmas thinking about the 11 Irish women every day forced
to make the same journey bc governments across Ireland refuse to legislate for health care at home,
The London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign said it seized the opportunity to spark a conversation about the fact
that women must leave the island to have abortions in countries like Britain and the Netherlands.
Kate Stephanie, 24, a psychotherapy and counseling student at Roehampton University in London, bought one of the luggage tags for herself
and a few extra as Christmas presents for family members before she returned home on Wednesday.
Cara Sanquest said that It’s weird that when we go home for Christmas, we have less rights than in our adopted country,
