Strike 4 Repeal are calling on people across Ireland to take strike action if the government has not called for a referendum to Repeal the 8th Amendment by March

A group has launched a campaign encouraging people to ‘Strike 4 Repeal’ if the government has not announced a referendum to Repeal the 8th Amendment.

The video indicates that the government has delayed holding a referendum on the eight amendment by holding a Citizens’ Assembly, which one woman indicates could cause another person to “die at any time.”

“We can’t wait and we won’t wait,” says a woman in the video overlooking Dublin’s skyline.

One Demand

Those behind the Strike 4 Repeal campaign have one demand for the Irish government. That demand is to call a referendum to Repeal the 8th, before the 8th of March.

If this petition is not acted upon by the government, the organisers of this campaign are calling on people across Ireland to participate in a national strike.

“If a referendum is not called – strike,” one woman urges viewers.

Strike 4 Repeal are calling on people to take action by showing their solidarity and taking a day off work, refraining from domestic work, and by wearing black.

The video highlights an urgency to Repeal the 8th Amendment because it is impacting on women’s lives.

Watch the Strike 4 Repeal video below.

Citizens’ Assembly

A Citizens’ Assembly was called in 2016 to discuss the issue of the 8th Amendment.

Certain Pro Life groups alongside members of the Catholic church have raised concerns about some of the language that is being used in the Citizens’ Assembly.

These groups have expressed dissatisfaction with the use of the term “fatal foetal abnormality”, which they indicate has the effect of depersonalising the foetus and intends to “normalise abortion”.

However, Assembly Chair Justice Mary Laffoy highlighted that the term is widely used and “is very much in common parlance”. Thus, she continued, that excluding it from use within the Assembly would not be appropriate.