The Bus4Repeal tour handed out abortion pills Mifepristone and Misoprostol to women who asked for them

As the campaign for Repeal The 8th heats up in Ireland, a group of self-proclaimed gay witches toured Ireland to distribute pills which precipitate abortion, according to Pro-Life website Life Site.

In a three-day tour which saw the Bus4Repeal visit several cities across Ireland, the Pro-Choice women distributed the abortifacient drugs Mifepristone (otherwise known as RU486) and Misoprostol to women who asked for them.

When taken together in the first trimester of pregnancy, these drugs have a 95% efficacy at inducing abortion.

Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Ruth Coppinger, who travelled on the Bus4Repeal for its first day of the tour, highlighted the issue of women’s bodily autonomy in light of the recent discovery of the bodies of babies in Tuam.

“In a week when hundred of babies’ bodies were found in one of Ireland’s infamous mother and baby homes, the Bus4Repeal is a timely action promoting women’s autonomy over their own bodies and lives – without interference from Church or State,” Coppinger said.

ROSA

The Bus4Repeal was sponsored by ROSA, the Reproductive Rights against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity, and began its tour at UCD in Dublin before visiting cities and campuses in Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Kildare and Galway.

In a statement from ROSA, the “socialist-feminist movement”, the group explains that distributing the abortion pills is an act of defiance against the abortion ban in Ireland.

“The bus will defy the abortion ban, as a source of information and access to safe abortions with pills, in conjunction with the pro-choice doctor-led Netherlands organisation, WomenOnWeb.org,” the statement reads.

“The bus will offer a Skype consultation with a Women On Web doctor.”

An information leaflet from ROSA on safely carrying out an abortion with pills was photographed by Ellen Coyne from the Irish Times.

https://twitter.com/ellenmcoyne/status/839194021763420161

The leaflet details who can take the pills, how to take them and the possible complications which can arise from taking them, which include heavy bleeding, an incomplete abortion, and infection.

Aftercare

While abortion is not currently legal in Ireland except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk, doctors are obliged to care for women who have taken abortion pills and abortion after-care is provided at sexual health clinics.

“Despite the 8th amendment you can still access medical care” if you have an abortion, the leaflet reads. “You do not have to tell the medical staff that you tried to induce an abortion, you can tell them that you had a spontaneous miscarriage.”

“Doctors have the obligation to help in all cases and know how to handle a miscarriage. Everyone is entitled to abortion after-care at a sexual health clinic in Ireland.”

#ExposingDeception

A Pro-Life group, the Irish Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (ICBR) reacted to the news of ROSA’s tour by following the Bus4Repeal around Ireland to provide alternative information with it’s own “#ExposingDeception Tour”.

The ICBR tour displayed “the pictorial reality of abortion,” according to Life Site.

ICBR spokeswoman Aisling Hubert explained that they aimed to inform “vulnerable women” about the “dangers of abortion”.

“ICBR intends on following the ROSA abortion bus to every community they visit to ensure that vulnerable women are told the whole truth about the dangers of abortion.

“We will expose the graphic reality of abortion using large banners that show the broken bodies of pre-born children dismembered through abortion.”

Life Site make the assertion that ROSA “claims that RU486 is ‘as safe as aspirin'”, however the leaflet ROSA were giving out contradicts this, with information provide clearly indicating that there are “possible complications”.

The leaflet goes on to list the associated symptoms and advises women to seek medical help should they experience them.

The Bus4Repeal tour was part of a larger campaign to Repeal the 8th amendment. Yesterday thousands gathered at O’Connell Bridge for the Strike 4 Repeal which urged the government to call a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment.

Do you think that Bus4Repeal were justified in defying the anti-abortion laws in Ireland to make their point? Or was it a step too far? Let us know in the comments below.