As they approach Dáil Éireann, the cheering, chanting, shouting, and singing only grows louder. Among the army of men, women and children is Sarah Kavanagh. She, like so many others, has braved the rain and overcome the bus strike to be here, because she knows one simple fact; To be a female in Ireland, is to be a second-class citizen. The passion in the crowd is undeniable and some tears even flow as the sea of colourful placards and fluorescent pink smoke bombs comes to a standstill outside the gate. They are an army, and their uniform is a black jumper emblazoned with 5 white letters; REPEAL.
Women’s reproductive rights is a controversial conversation that has gripped the country as of late with online campaigns such as “Two Women Travel” which saw two Irish women document their journey to England for the abortion they couldn’t receive at home. Then, there is the Repeal Project who sell the Repeal jumpers with proceeds from every sale going to the Abortions Rights Campaign, and it is these jumpers that have quickly become the uniform worn by pro-choice advocates around the country, including Ms. Kavanagh.
However, Sarah Kavanagh is not only an Irish woman actively fighting for female reproductive rights, but also, a DCU law student and more importantly, the Chairperson of the newly established Feminist Society on campus. The society’s goal, as per their social media, is to promote “gender equality activism on and off campus” and according to Sarah, fighting for a change in Ireland’s abortion laws falls under that umbrella. Repealing the eighth amendment, an article in the constitution which makes abortion illegal in Ireland, “is about giving women the same bodily autonomy as men”.
Sarah and some of her peers decided to create a DCU feminist society earlier this year when they realised the absence of such a society in the university. “Trinity has something similar, UCD has something similar, Maynooth has something similar. I just thought it was weird that DCU wouldn’t have the same thing.”
Through this society, Sarah has provided a platform for DCU students to become informed and to inform others about the Repeal movement making tidal waves across the country. “We’re trying to make it more accessible for students in DCU. […] It gets the conversation going in DCU and gets people talking about it. We’re officially a pro-choice college, – there was a referendum last year- so there’s no reason why the conversation shouldn’t be happening”.
It is also clear that, with Sarah as the chair, the atmosphere of solidarity evident at the marches is also a large factor within the society. For committee member and LGBT community member Aaron Nevin, the marriage equality referendum inspired him to become a pro-choice advocate. “I realised during the lead up to the marriage equality referendum that a huge percentage of campaigners were straight men and women- people who would never be directly affected by the issue. […] Men will never be directly affected by abortion laws in Ireland, but this doesn’t mean we can’t show support and solidarity to the women who are.”
While Sarah and her fellow FemSoc members might stink of the typical ‘idealistic, liberal student protesting against injustice’ stereotype, they are not alone in their thinking. The last few months have seen the establishment of a Citizens Assembly to assess the situation, Independent TD’s insisting on a free vote and TD Bríd Smith waving a packet of abortion pills in the Dáil’s face and challenging the government to arrest her. There was also a bill proposing a referendum on the eighth amendment, however, the government subsequently rejected it.
Sarah Kavanagh might not be the first or the last person to take a stand against the injustices brought about by the eighth amendment. She is only one face among the thousands pounding the pavements at the Marches for Choice. But, she is the one leading the way for a whole generation of DCU students and, according to Sarah, the generations to follow. “We’re on the way somewhere. If you think of where we were 10 years ago compared to now, at least people are talking about it, but there’s a lot more to go.”
Thumbnail by Alexa Mazzarello