My flight home from San Jose last week was bookended by two young Irish ladies to whom I am grateful. Today they make me proud to be Irish and hopeful for our future. I’ve never seen a greater example of democracy at work and the youth of Ireland taking their future into their own hands.
I saw the first of these ladies when I was standing in line in San Jose airport last Thursday (May 24, 2018) heading home after a few days of the usual business busyness. In the line beside me was a young woman wearing a Repeal Jumper. She was heading to Ireland to do something really important. This young woman (like so many other young women and men) was flying home to vote #HomeToVote in a referendum that was concerned with the serious topic of the availability of abortion in Ireland.
In Ireland today it is illegal to have an abortion. The only option open to those women who feel that an abortion is a necessity is to travel outside the country to have the procedure performed. Hundreds of Irish women travel to the UK every month. Their stories are heartbreaking.
Three decades ago, Ireland was a very different place than it is today. Divorce was illegal, as was same-sex marriage. Abortion, already illegal in practice, was constitutionally banned in a 1983 referendum — known as the Eighth Amendment. The ‘Repeal” on the aforementioned Repeal Jumper was a referendum to repeal or remove that amendment from the Irish constitution, so that those who found themselves in the difficult situation where they deemed an abortion necessary would not have to leave the country.
This is a difficult topic. Over the weeks and months proceeding the actual vote there was active campaigning from both those who agitated against Repeal and those wanted the women to have a choice to make their own decision.
The young lady who joined me on the flight from San Jose was one of many thousands who travelled from afar to come home to Ireland to vote in this referendum. The hashtag #HomeToVote trended heavily on Twitter where many young women (and young men) recorded their trip. Some asked for financial assistance to make the trip and were supported by others of a like mind.
The tweets tell the story:
@Bluedevi: Heading #hometovote on the Traditional Girl In Trouble Boat, thinking of everyone who made the same journey in the other direction. Air thick with ghosts #repealthe8th
@HoorayForNiamh: Cost of flights from Hanoi to Dublin: 800 euro. Length of journey: 20 hours. Chance to #repealthe8th: PRICELESS. #hometovote #Together4Yes
@Kilo53908733: Last minute flight from Vancouver to London: $1500. Length of journey: 15 hours. Repealing the 8th: priceless. Me ma’s reaction: also priceless. #HomeToVote #abroadforyes
@jolisby: We’re on a weeks family holiday in Spain. Today I take car, train, another train, plane and then mammy mobile to get to my polling station on time. For me and for this girl. #hometovote #RunJoRun
@tatefountain: Really, really hoping all the Irish women flying #HomeToVote are the last ones who have to travel anywhere due to abortion. #RepealThe8th
@coolhandjennie: “Yesterday, we travelled because we wanted to. Today, we vote for the women who travelled because they were forced to.” #hometovote
And then there was a lot of this … strangers supporting each other in support of a common cause …
@LukeBradshaw85: My girlfriend wants to get to Holyhead to catch 5pm (ish) boat to #repealthe8th. Is anyone driving there today from London area that can help??!! #hometovote PLS RT!!
@charlottor: Replying to @LukeBradshaw85 @MarianKeyes / I’ll pay her train fare – the 1210 from Euston will get her to Holyhead at 1613
@LukeBradshaw85 Replying to @charlottor @MarianKeyes / Oh my god. Is this real?! That’s incredible! x
@charlottor: Replying to @LukeBradshaw85 @MarianKeyes / Yep. PM me her PayPal and I’ll send the money over. Too important, and I’m flush at the moment.
@LukeBradshaw85 Replying to @charlottor @MarianKeyes / Thanks to this amazing woman the train is now booked!! Ferry prices have gone up from £60 to £200 for one-way. Can anyone else help please? … She’s currently in a taxi and should get to Euston in time thanks to some incredible generosity. I feel fuzzy inside. Amazing
@ZaraEgan Replying to @LukeBradshaw85 @MarianKeyes / How is she getting from the boat to her polling station?
@LukeBradshaw85 Replying to @ZaraEgan @MarianKeyes / Potentially her dad can pick her up from Dublin (to get to Navan)
@ZaraEgan Replying to @LukeBradshaw85 @MarianKeyes / Ok, if she has any issues let me know.
@ClareHayesBrady Replying to @ZaraEgan @LukeBradshaw85 @MarianKeyes / I can collect if she needs a lift!
Check out #HomeToVote on Twitter to read lots of more stories.
When I landed in Cork airport having flown from San Jose to Heathrow and then to Cork and walked in to the arrivals area I, along with everyone else who got off that flight, was greeted by another young lady – this one carrying a sign that said #TogetherForYes, need a lift?
It was 8pm and the polling stations were open until 10pm. This young woman wanted to be sure that she could do everything possible to help people who wanted to vote. (Similar scenes occurred in all the airports, ports and train stations around the country.) I live near the airport so I took a taxi, went home, said hello to my wife, 19 year-old daughter and 14 year-old son, and then I walked to the polling station to vote Yes. This was now Friday May 25th – a historic day in Ireland.
64% of the population turned out to vote and 66% voted Yes. The complete results show a blanket of appeal to repeal across the majority of the country.
I know that today a third of the population is probably feeling alienated and possibly betrayed and while I don’t agree with their perspective I respect their right to their beliefs and values. This post is not triumphalism. But I feel too for the thousands of Irish women who will yet have to make that journey to the UK over the next 6 months before the revised legislation comes into effect. This is not yet done.
I don’t usually write about topics like this, but in this case I felt compelled. I want my daughter, should the circumstance ever arise, to have a choice. I trust her to do the right thing.
As Martin Luther King said:
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Today I am feeling proud to be Irish, truly thankful to the movement of the young (and not so young) women and men who choose to mobilize a civilized groundswell to take control of their future. The women who told their personal abortion stories are brave. They risked stigma and suffered abuse – but they told their stories because they cared about the future of others.
When a country’s youth stand up to be counted, act on their beliefs, and do so with passion and compassion, it is up-lifting. I’m grateful and proud to be Irish.
I came upon this image posted on Twitter by @chriscoreline (Posted with permission by Kate Went, originally in the Abroad for Choice group).
It says everything I want to say.
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Donal Daly is Executive Chairman of Altify having founded the company in 2005. He is author of numerous books and ebooks including the latest Amazon #1 Bestseller Digital Sales Transformation in a Customer First World (Nov 3, 2017) and his previous Amazon #1 Best-sellers Account Planning in Salesforce and Tomorrow | Today: How AI Impacts How We Work, Live, and Think. Altify is Donal’s fifth global business enterprise.