One woman’s reality of living with the 8th amendment and a disability
The Disabled People for Choice Ireland group raises awareness of the reality of living with both the 8th Amendment and a disability.
The Facebook page shares anonymous true stories from people with disabilities, who highlight how a vote to repeal would change their lives, and why they want to repeal the 8th.
One story in particular caught our attention, as a woman detailed how she had been forced to suffer with agonising pain for far longer than was necessary, due to her medical caregivers placing the existence of a potential foetus above her right to care.
'The 8th amendment means that as a fertile 19-year-old female, I must be treated as if I am possibly pregnant before every medical procedure I undertake and gives my hypothetical possible foetus more rights than I have,' reads the post.
'The Eighth Amendment meant that as a non sexually active 18-year old I was turned away from a crucial MRI that I waited six months for, whilst my spine was painfully and dangerously disintegrating by the day because it hadn’t been 10 days since my last period.'
'I pleaded with the MRI technician that I would take a pregnancy test then and there,' she continued.
'I told her, in front of a crowded waiting room, that I hadn’t had sex in five months and there was no way I could be pregnant, all with tears in my eyes. She told me that “it was hospital policy” and that I should rearrange an appointment when I got my next period.'
'My dad picked me up from the hospital and I cried the whole way home because I knew that the extra month of waiting for an MRI meant my spinal surgery was further delayed causing me to live in chronic pain for longer than necessary.'
´Under the Eighth Amendment, I must be treated as a liar.'
'My pregnancy should be on MY own terms, when MY body is strong enough to have a pain and risk-free pregnancy, and for when I want to be pregnant.'
'It is inhumane to force me to carry a pregnancy that risks severely, painfully and permanently damaging MY body,' she finished.
It is vital to hear the words of those impacted by the 8th Amendment in ways some of us might have never even considered.
You can find the Disabled People for Choice Facebook page here.
