 | |
| Founded | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Type | abortion access, anti-racism, grassroots activist group |
| Location | |
| Website | merjireland |
The Migrants and Ethnic-minorities for Reproductive Justice (MERJ) is an Irish advocacy group for reproductive rights for migrants, Travellers and people of colour in Ireland.
Migrants and Ethnic-minorities for Reproductive Justice (MERJ) was founded in 2017 as a voice for migrants, Travellers and people of colour affected by the restrictive access to abortion in Ireland as part of the wider Repeal the 8th campaign. [1] [2] In particular, some migrants in Ireland could not travel for abortion services in the United Kingdom or Europe before the Eighth Amendment was repealed. [3] [4]
MERJ campaign highlighting how migrant women, women of colour and from ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by issues relating to maternal health, with 40% of maternal deaths in Ireland being migrant women in 2015. [2] Since the repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018, MERJ now focus on how the current legislation on abortion services in Ireland continue to affect migrants and asylum seekers as well as campaigning against racism and direct provision. MERJ is organising events on and opening up conversations about abolitionist feminism [5] and challenging white feminism in Ireland and beyond. [6]
In June 2020, MERJ with Black Pride Ireland and Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland, were involved in organising Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations in response to the murder of George Floyd.
Abortion in Ireland is regulated by the Health Act 2018. Abortion is permitted in Ireland during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, and later in cases where the pregnant woman's life or health is at risk, or in the cases of a fatal foetal abnormality. Abortion services commenced on 1 January 2019, following its legalisation by the aforementioned Act, which became law on 20 December 2018. Previously, the 8th Constitutional Amendment had given the life of the unborn foetus the same value as that of its mother, but the 36th constitutional amendment, approved by referendum in May 2018, replaced this with a clause permitting the Oireachtas (parliament) to legislate for the termination of pregnancies.
The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1983 was an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which inserted a subsection recognising "the equal right to life of the pregnant woman and the unborn". Abortion had been subject to criminal penalty in Ireland since at least 1861; the amendment ensured that legislation or judicial interpretation would be restricted to allowing abortion in circumstances where the life of a pregnant woman was at risk. It was approved by referendum on 7 September 1983 and signed into law on 7 October 1983. In 2018, it was repealed by referendum.
This is a timeline of reproductive rights legislation, a chronological list of laws and legal decisions affecting human reproductive rights. Reproductive rights are a sub-set of human rights pertaining to issues of reproduction and reproductive health. These rights may include some or all of the following: the right to legal or safe abortion, the right to birth control, the right to access quality reproductive healthcare, and the right to education and access in order to make reproductive choices free from coercion, discrimination, and violence. Reproductive rights may also include the right to receive education about contraception and sexually transmitted infections, and freedom from coerced sterilization, abortion, and contraception, and protection from practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM).
Reproductive justice is a critical feminist framework that was invented as a response to United States reproductive politics. The three core values of reproductive justice are the right to have a child, the right to not have a child, and the right to parent a child or children in safe and healthy environments. The framework moves women's reproductive rights past a legal and political debate to incorporate the economic, social, and health factors that impact women's reproductive choices and decision-making ability.
Feminism has played a major role in shaping the legal and social position of women in present-day Ireland. The role of women has been influenced by numerous legal changes in the second part of the 20th century, especially in the 1970s.
Robina Qureshi is a Scottish human rights campaigner. She is a critic of the asylum policies of the United Kingdom, and has campaigned to stop inhumane treatment and close detention centres for asylum seekers.
Pro Life Campaign (PLC) is an Irish anti-abortion advocacy organisation. Its primary spokesperson is Cora Sherlock. It is a non-denominational organisation which promotes anti-abortion views, and opposes abortion in all circumstances, including cases of rape and incest.
Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pregnancy without fear of legal or social backlash. These movements are in direct opposition to anti-abortion movements.
The socio-political movements and ideologies of feminism have found expression in various media. These media include newspaper, literature, radio, television, social media, film, and video games. They have been essential to the success of many feminist movements.
The Abortion Rights Campaign (ARC) is an Irish abortion rights group. The group's goal is the introduction of free and legal abortion in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Prior to May 2018, the group campaigned for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution, which was achieved with the passing of the Thirty-Sixth Amendment 2018. The ARC also campaigns for the Northern Ireland Assembly on behalf of abortion legislation and "to ensure the health of women in pregnancy is protected in line with international human rights standards".
The Global Justice Center (GJC) is an international human rights and humanitarian law organization aiming to advance gender equality by helping to implement and enforce human rights laws. Headquartered in New York City and led by Akila Radhakrishnan, the GJC is a member of the United Nations NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security. The GJC works with national and international Non-governmental organizations, the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, and others to promote the progressive, feminist interpretation and application of international law.
The International Women's Strike, also known as Paro Internacional de Mujeres, is a global movement coordinated across over 50 countries on International Women's Day, that started in 2017 and 2018. The United Nations announced the theme of "Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030", calling for gender equality around the globe. In the United States, the strike was branded as "Day Without a Woman".
Together for Yes (TFY) is an abortion rights campaign group in Ireland. It campaigned successfully for a Yes vote in the 2018 referendum to ratify the Thirty-sixth Amendment, which removed the Eighth Amendment's constitutional ban on abortion in Ireland.
The Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which permits the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion. The constitution had previously prohibited abortion unless there was a serious risk to the life of the mother.
Loretta J. Ross is an American academic, feminist, and activist who advocates for reproductive justice, especially among women of color. As an activist, Ross has written on reproductive justice activism and the history of African American women.
Secularism in the Republic of Ireland has been described as a "Quiet Revolution", comparable to the Quiet Revolution in Quebec. It is an unofficial term that encompasses a number of significant social and political movements related to secularism and secularization, which have occurred within the last thirty years, and involved no violence or force. It has been described as a period where "the people led, and the politicians followed". Since the passing of a 1972 amendment with overwhelming public support, Ireland has had a secular constitution, although a high degree of religious influence over laws, education, and state business still persisted in the decades which followed, diminishing only in more recent times. In an assessment of the Irish state's overall secularity, Humanists International gave Ireland a mixed score, finding "systematic discrimination" against non-religious people in government, education, and society.
The SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, also known as SisterSong, is a national activist organization dedicated to reproductive justice for women of color.
Carceral feminism is a critical term for types of feminism that advocate for enhancing and increasing prison sentences that deal with feminist and gender issues. The term criticises the belief that harsher and longer prison sentences will help work towards solving these issues. The phrase "carceral feminism" was coined by Elizabeth Bernstein, a feminist sociologist, in her 2007 article, "The Sexual Politics of the 'New Abolitionism'". Examining the contemporary anti-trafficking movement in the United States, Bernstein introduced the term to describe a type of feminist activism which casts all forms of sexual labor as sex trafficking. She sees this as a retrograde step, suggesting it erodes the rights of women in the sex industry, and takes the focus off other important feminist issues, and expands the neoliberal agenda.
2022 Michigan Proposal 3, the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, also known as Reproductive Freedom for All, was a citizen-initiated proposed constitutional amendment in the state of Michigan, which was voted on as part of the 2022 Michigan elections. The amendment, which passed, codified reproductive rights, including access to abortion, in the Constitution of Michigan.
Speaking of I.M.E.L.D.A. are a feminist-activist performance group based in London. The focus of their activism is abortion rights in Ireland, and their work built on action by the Irish Women's Abortion Support Group (IWASG) who supported women travelling to England for abortions from 1980 to 2000. The acronym I.M.E.L.D.A. stands for Ireland Making England the Legal Destination for Abortion. The group was formed in 2014 by Treasa O'Brien and Helena Walsh. Their work is a form of art intervention, and direct action. They made a series of interventions as part of the campaign to Repeal the 8th Amendment to the Constitution of Ireland, which in 1983 legislated that the unborn foetus has equal rights to life as the mother. The amendment to legalise abortion was put to a referendum on 25 May 2018 and approved by 66.4% of voters. Their performance interventions and use of social media have gathered widespread media attention.