Today, the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) are launching the national student-led campaign to remove the Eighth Amendment from the Constitution at the annual student Congress in Galway. The campaign, Students For Choice, will be registering thousands of students to vote ahead of polling day on May 25th.
Speaking at the launch, USI President Michael Kerrigan said,
“We cannot make any change to our barbaric abortion laws without removing the Eighth Amendment. We will be on the right side of history, and we’re bringing hundreds of thousands of students along with us. We’re ramping up to register students to vote, getting students ready to canvass, and making sure students get out and vote ‘Yes’ in May. Together we will vote ‘Yes’ to remove the Eighth Amendment.”
“Students For Choice is all about allowing thousands of our young people who haven’t had the opportunity to vote on this issue to be informed, and get registered to vote ahead of May 25th. We will take the baton that has been passed to us from generations of activists, and we will take this over the line. We owe this to the thousands who have been forced to travel, or forced to continue a pregnancy”
USI Deputy President Síona Cahill said
“The removal of the Eighth Amendment will allow for abortion care here in Ireland, and will make Ireland a more progressive, respectful and caring place for everyone. It’s time people who are pregnant In Ireland were allowed to make their own decisions with their doctors, rather than shipping them across the Irish sea to the UK and elsewhere under a shadow of judgement”
USI is the national representative body for the 374,000 students in third level education on the Island of Ireland, and is a member of the national civil society campaign, Together For Yes. USI registered 18,000 students who have never voted before between September and November 2017 alone, adding to the upwards of 80,000 students registered to vote by USI in recent years.
