The Youth Vote

SEAMUS BYRNE 19

I’m a transgender male. Technically speaking, I can get pregnant quite easily, and if I were to get pregnant, I would not be able to deal with that mentally.

I was having a discussion about this in class recently and somebody was saying people should vote No. I asked why and he was like, ‘Babies will die’. I said if I were to get pregnant, I would die. He was kind of shocked by that, but he was still like, ‘Well, that’s your opinion’. I said that’s not my opinion, that’s my mental health.

A lot of the Yes posters are great, but there’s some of them that are very cisnormative: ‘vote for women, vote for women’s healthcare’. I know it’s mainly for cis women, but there are still trans people out there who can get pregnant.

I’m taking part in the Together For Yes campaign in Meath. I’ve been canvassing in some of the smaller areas and I look very young. A lot of people would assume I’m about 14, not 19. They look at me strangely, like ‘you shouldn’t be having opinions on this’.

I’d advocate for a vote for 16 year-olds because it’s their future, it’s their Ireland. If you’re passionate about politics, you should have the choice to vote in elections, and not just referendums.

RÚÁN WALSH 19

Ever since I was very young, I’ve had the idea that we own our own bodies. I think it came from my mother, who has been ighting for repeal since the 80s.

We went to a march one day and she said to me, ‘I did this when I was younger, I don’t feel like I need to do it again, but here we are’.

We own our own bodies, and even if there is a potential life in there, it’s not always good for emotional wellbeing. It’s a big problem for trans people, in terms of gender dysphoria. A lot of people in the IndividualiTy trans youth group who can vote, are voting Yes. We all understand that we’ve had to fight for the right to do things to our own bodies.

I think we need to recognise that as much as you can personally be opposed to abortion and think it’s morally wrong, you have to remember that not everyone is able to take on having a baby. You can’t stop abortion, you can only stop unsafe abortion, and that means voting Yes.”

RUAIRÍ BARRETT 19

I do not ever plan on giving birth and if I was put into a situation where I became pregnant, I would absolutely not want to give birth to that child. People within the

LGBT community might not realise that trans people on hormones can still get pregnant, and that would be a horrible experience for some.

I think it’s really important to make your own choice for your own body. You can’t just say that because there are a few cells in your womb growing that it’s a person yet. If the foetus is not able to survive outside the womb, I wouldn’t classify it as being a person yet. I think that up until that point, it’s the choice of the person whose body it is whether to carry it or not.

STEPHEN YOUNG 22

I’m voting Yes to repeal the eighth amendment. I think all women deserve the right to abortion, no matter what the circumstances are. Everybody deserves the right to do whatever they want with their bodies.

AODH QUIGLEY 19

I would rather not have to be voting on this in the rst place. I would rather it wasn’t an issue; I would rather that lives hadn’t been lost, that lives hadn’t been ruined by the Eighth Amendment.

On the other hand, it’s amazing that I have the opportunity to vote, to change something that means a lot to other people.

The Facebook page ‘In Her Shoes – Women of the Eighth’ has been the biggest source of stories for me. You become aware of so many different reasons someone would need or want to have an abortion. It’s not about people who don’t want kids, it’s about the person who was raped, it’s about the person that can’t afford to have kids; it’s about the person who has cancer and has to stop all her treatment because she’s gotten pregnant.

People who are campaigning for the No side are missing the complexity of the issue. Abortion is constant, it’s going to happen anyway, and the Eighth Amendment isn’t doing its job, as it was intended to do. All that repeal would do would be to make it safer for those women who are going to make the decision anyway.

BREDA MCCARTHY 20

This is my rst time to vote. I think this is a personal issue and the state shouldn’t be involved.

Because it is so personal, you need family support and you need the healthcare system to be there in case you have any problems. I’m from Galway and a lot of the posters are from the No side. You hope people have their own minds, that they’re not swayed by numbers of posters or the false information on them. I don’t think it’s fair to try and sway people with false information and scare tactics.

I feel like the Yes campaign has a huge job to inform people about the truth. I think it will be a majority Yes vote. I’ve had discussions with my family and they are all voting Yes. If it were a No, it would be terrible. I hope Ireland is more progressive.

CONOR KELLY 19

People sometimes say to me, ‘I think the Eighth Amendment should be repealed in the sense if someone gets raped, but not for other reasons’.

When I hear that ‘but’, I feel like just walking out of the room. It’s so hard to say to someone that when you’re against the Eighth Amendment because of rape, you’re against it for every other reason.

It’s so hard to have this conversation with someone my age. The majority of people I know who are voting Yes are much older, people who have lived through the 1980s, when the amendment was put in place. They understand the effects of it, while people my age don’t.

I think it’s the responsibility of parents to have conversations about this. My family is very open in talking about the issue. My sister is just as involved in this, because she understands the effects of it and so do the rest of my family.

I can tell you with my heart that we’re going to win it. We’ve been out canvassing; I’ve been out on Henry Street, I’ve been out on O’Connell Street, and all we’re getting is support.

FRANKIE SMITH 19

We should vote and use the voice we have because we’re the younger ones – we’re the next generation, we’re the ones going to be a ected by this.

People seem to only think about the 30 year-old woman who can afford to go to England and have an abortion, they don’t think about the 15 year-old girl who is completely alone, with no support at all and no money, who can’t go and have an abortion if it’s needed.

The No side is all about, it’s going to be abortion at six months and unrestricted abortions. It’s not! They’re not going to be handing out abortions like ice creams, there’s going to be all sorts of rules and regulations, and it’s going to be up to 12 weeks.

BRONWYN MCDONAGH 16

There already is abortion in Ireland, but it’s not safe and it’s criminalised. People have to leave the country. Rape victims have to carry babies they don’t want to have; some can’t a ord to leave the country to get a safe abortion.

Most of the No posters have false information on them, and I worry that people will vote No because they will believe them.

Voting pro-choice isn’t saying I want to have an abortion, it’s saying I’m for other people having the choice to have an abortion if they need to. We should stand by the women who need the choice.