A number of trans activists have highlighted the need for the upcoming abortion legislation to contain gender neutral language which does alienate the trans and non-binary community.

Noah Halpin, Founder of the This Is Me – Transgender Healthcare Campaign has said that the repeal vote had opened up a dialogue about how to respectfully talk about reproductive health care and that the respect should extended to transgender pregnancy.

“Despite what some may believe, men can become pregnant too. There are tens of thousands of transgender men and non-binary people in Ireland who can conceive, and when speaking about reproductive healthcare, we must always be mindful of that.

“It’s imperative that newly written legislation uses inclusive language. By including this, trans men and non binary people will not hit legal barriers should they need to receive an abortion. By using the term pregnant people in new legislation, as well as protecting women, we are also protecting and respecting all gender identities should a crisis pregnancy occur.” Halpin said

Meanwhile Radical Queers Resist, a queer protest group, have organised an afternoon of emailing and idea sharing so that the Queer Community can join together in direct advocacy of legislators to ensure appropriate language is inserted into the legislation.

Speaking on Facebook the group said, “We need to ensure that the misogyny, transphobia, classism, racism and ableism of the 8th Amendment is eradicated. How? Demand free abortion services with no waiting periods and with legislation that includes people of all gender identities”

Speaking in the Seanad today, Senator Fintan Warfield stated that he has written to Minister for Health Simon Harris about ensuring gender neutral language is included in the legislation “recognising also that trans people face crisis preganancies.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told the Dail that he expects to have abortion legislation to be enacted by January next year. Speaking during leaders questions yesterday he said, “The view of government is that it wants to legislate for the termination of pregnancies as soon as possible.”