Ireland’s Hidden Diaspora: the ‘abortion trail’ and the making of a London-Irish underground, 1980-2000, By Ann Rossiter

published by IASC Publishing House.

'Every year, approximately 5,000 women from the Republic of Ireland and 1,500 from Northern Ireland cross the Irish Sea to have an abortion in a British clinic. They come and go in secret, like women ‘on the run’, bearing a terrible burden of shame for two societies in denial. In fact, much pride is taken in the island being seen as a ‘pro-life’ sort of place. We have been constantly reminded over recent years that Ireland has changed, changed utterly, since the establishment of the Peace Agreement in the North, and the emergence of the Celtic Tiger in the Republic. But, when it comes to the right of a woman to choose, it is a place that is still in the dark ages, north and south of the Border.

This book is not an account of the experience of abortion seekers by the women themselves – we still wait to hear them speak out in their own names. However, an equally important part of this hidden story is told here by London-Irish women who supported many such individuals before, during, and after their lonely, and often frightening journey ‘across the water’. It is also a record of their campaigns for a change in the law in both parts of the island. The supporters and campaigners were members of the Irish Women’s Abortion Support Group (IWASG) and the Irish Abortion Solidarity Campaign (Iasc). The book is a testament to their tireless work, over a twenty year period from the early 1980s, much of which was conducted undercover. In offering new first-hand evidence of such activities, this oral history presents a vivid and timely contribution to debates about the Irish feminist movement in Britain in the late twentieth century.'

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Ann Rossiter, a long-standing Irish feminist who has been involved in IWASG and Iasc for many years, is from Bruree, Co. Limerick and has lived in London for nearly half a century. She has also been an activist in feminist groups concerned with women and the Irish National Question, such as Women and Ireland and the London Armagh Group. The latter was set up to oppose the treatment of republican women prisoners, in particular the practice of strip searching. She has written a number of articles and essays on these subjects and holds a doctorate in the history of the encounter between English and Irish feminism during the years of 'the Troubles'. She taught Irish Studies for over a decade at various institutions, including Kilburn Polytechnic (now the College of North West London), Birkbeck, London Metropolitan, and Luton universities.

Joanne O'Brien

Photography

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