Any other women here vote NO for the 8th?

You make it sound like giving your child up for adoption is an easy thing to do. I gave my child up for adoption and it has almost destroyed me. I said goodbye to my baby more than 30 years ago, and to this day I still cry like a wounded animal over our separation.

I voted yes because I know how it feels to be pregnant and unable to properly take care of a child. I also know how difficult it is to stick to the decision to place your baby with a new family once he or she is born. Giving birth unleashes powerful primal instincts and to separate a mother and baby is a form of torture, I believe. I had no idea how damaging my decision was going to be until it was too late.

I know I am only one person, and there probably are women who made the same choice as me and haven't been brought to the brink of utter despair and self harm they way I have been, but when I read/hear people say a woman "could always give the child up for adoption", I feel a great need to express how difficult and painful that decision could turn out to be. My heart will never heal, only death will relieve me from this raw and endless pain I carry with me all day, every day. I wouldn't wish this lifelong heartache on anyone and would strongly advise against giving your child up for adoption.

You knew where it would lead? And you were pretty damn wrong, weren't you.

The 'her body her choice ' does not really stand up to scrutiny in my opinion especially when it was coming from Ruth Coppinger and her band of merry Feminists followers.

Applying the same logic Ruth and her ilk should have no problem with legalised prostitution and every hard drug known to man being freely available because if it's a case of 'her body her choice ' then if a Woman wants to have sex with ten Men a night as 50 quid a pop or pump a cocktail of drugs in to her that's her choice!

Somehow I think it's 'some' choices for Women which we agree with and deniying choice which we don't agree with, hypocrisy at the highest level.

I was arguing the slogan 'her body her choice ' and how silly it was,that's all.

Not this nonsense again.

One, how many abortions are carried out in Ireland each year?

Two are you are of the effects on a woman's body from carrying a pregnancy to term and giving birth?

Except the example given in the equivalence test was pure nonsense, as was pointed out. Someone 'having sex with 10 men a night and pumping herself up with drugs,' depending on the drugs in the latter case, is violating the law. Why is that the law? Because of the potential impact on society as a whole from supporting the criminal drug industry. Abortion is not illegal in Ireland, except after the 12 week interval in some cases, which is why 12 weeks should be extended to 24 like the rest of the EU. There are some good reasons for extending it especially the opportunity for better scanning for abnormalities and defects in the fetus. Also, a woman can still travel to the UK after the 12th week, so it's silly that you can take a road trip to NI and get an abortion at week 13. (Yes, I know they're dragging their heels in NI, but progress is being made.)

The onerous, misogynstic 8th amendment, was repealed by a majority of the Irish voting public (a large majority), so society is o.k. with it, and the subsequent laws that have been passed regulating it. The old arguments we're hearing on this thread were all gone over in depth in the abortion thread, and were found wanting there, and by the populace as a whole when the referendum was voted on

'Tis a shame you didn't volunteer to take in the newborn, raise it and pay for it until it was 18, seeing as you feel so strongly about it.

It's nonsensical if you're a woman, doncha know?

'my body, my choice' is a cathchy slogan, handy for getting a point across quickly and sharply

It is not a deep detailed explanation of the concept, with a belief that you are supposed to understand or accept every complexity and scenario behind it. If people want to understand the deeper meanings behind the slogan then it is on them to look in to it themselves.

Somebody looking for the ability to decide what happens to their body is not demanding that you agree with them. You need not get an abortion if you feel it is morally wrong for whatever reason but the main slant is that it is not for you to decide as you are not effected. It's not your body, so you shouldn't get a say.

Society doesn't carry the child/baby/foetus/clump of cells, the father doesn't carry the (insert term of choice), the grandparents and extended family don't carry the (insert term of choice). Just the mother, the person who deserves to be able to make that choice wether it's a difficult choice or not, for whatever reason they deem it necessary and regardless of what the rest of us who don't carry that burden think.

It's more likely to be that someone exposing themselves in public is the issue.

It's not, people should have full ownership over their own bodies, my body my choice, that does not mean there are no consequences for the choices someone makes. It's an argument of every decreasing circle and whataboutery going round and round making the same point over and over again without getting anywhere.