Loveboth

Today, individuals and families gathered together in Dublin to give this message to the Irish people as they go to the polls on Friday: “When you vote, think of us, the lives saved by the Eighth Amendment.

Commenting on the press event, Clare McCarthy of LoveBoth said:

“Today we have Mary Kenny, whose baby Hollie is alive because the Eighth Amendment gave her time to think. Martin McBreen will talk about how his daughter Grace, who is alive due to the protections in the Eighth Amendment.  Monica Hadarean, who was pressured for abortion and found protection in Irish laws; and finally have a young man, Gavin Boyne, who is alive because the Eighth Amendment restricted abortion on demand. All these people and their stories should be at the forefront of voters minds as they enter the polling station on Friday.”

This is Gavin’s story in his own words:

“My life was saved by the Eighth Amendment. My story begins before the 8th of March 1998, when my mother gave birth to me at the age of 16, as several months prior to this she was in England where she was planning to have an abortion. It was actually my grandparents who decided that abortion was the best thing for their 16-year-old daughter, my mother.

It was clear to them, considering that money was tight and their daughter was young, that the best thing was to end of pregnancy which would mean ending my life. It was a difficult time of course for my grandparents and my mother, my father was not around either. For weeks my grandparents debated and discussed exactly what was involved with abortion and what my mother was being asked to do. Fortunately for me, eventually my grandparents concluded that ending my life was the wrong thing to do.

The question that my grandparents asked themselves in 1998 was; why is abortion illegal in Ireland? This led them to look again at the reason the Eighth Amendment was put in the Irish constitution in the first place. The reason is that our Constitution recognises the individuality, importance, and potential of every single unborn child. Thankfully my grandparents recognised that I, even though still unborn, was a unique human being and they could not in good conscience play a role in ending in my life.

But the fact that my mother could not obtain an abortion here and therefore was going to travel to England meant that there was time to have these discussions, time in planning a journey, this time would not have existed if abortion on demand was available in Ireland.

People like me are here because the Constitution protects our right to life and keeps the politicians and their friends in the abortion lobby away from our rights. Anyone who thinks that Ireland will not lose thousands of unborn babies every year if abortion on demand is introduced is fooling themselves.

When you vote on Friday, think of me. My name is Gavin Boyne, I am a student, I am 20 years old. I am not someone’s choice, I am a human being.

The Eighth Amendment recognised that I was a human being when my life was at risk, it does the same thing today for thousands of unborn children; it does this without diminishing the woman because it protects both rights in the text of the Constitution.

What the Minister for Health is proposing is extreme abortion on demand. I owe my life to the Eighth Amendment. Let’s not hand it away, that’s why I will be voting ‘no’ on the 25th of May.”

After the testimonies, Clare concluded:

“Today’s stories are from people alive thanks to the Eighth Amendment and when people go to the polling station on Friday, we want them to remember Gavin, Hollie, Grace and thousands more like them. The only way to protect lives, prevent the tragic loss of Irish citizens and to stop Simon Harris’s extreme abortion on demand plan is by voting ‘No’ on Friday.”