To anyone who is unsure about the upcoming referendum, please take five minutes out of your day to read some of the many stories from Irish women denied the right to choose in their own country.
Charlotte Morabito “As Ireland goes #hometovoteto #RepealThe8thtoday, please remember Savita Halappanavar who died of sepsis after being denied an abortion for a pregnancy even after doctors said miscarriage was inevitable. Her death was a catalyst for this referendum. She was 31.
“Ireland has voted by a landslide margin to change the constitution so that abortion can be legalised, according to an exit poll conducted for The Irish Times by Ipsos/MRBI.
Don’t mind me, I’m just crying buckets in the #HomeToVote tag on Twitter (tomorrow, Ireland is having a referendum on women’s reproductive rights. Expat voting in Ireland is restricted and complicated, meaning often the only way to vote (if you’re still eligible) for expats is to return home
Men and women from all over the world are returning to legalise abortion in Ireland at last, sharing their stories of packed planes and baristas handing out free coffees in response to shirts and buttons. It’s beautiful.
Check out the photos and videos on Twitter, it’s amazing!
After succumbing to a fever of some sort in 1705, Irish woman Margorie McCall was hastily buried to prevent the spread of whatever had done her in. Margorie was buried with a valuable ring, which her husband had been unable to remove due to swelling. This made her an even better target for body snatchers, who could cash in on both the corpse and the ring.
The evening after Margorie was buried, before the soil had even settled, the grave-robbers showed up and started digging. Unable to pry the ring off the finger, they decided to cut the finger off. As soon as blood was drawn, Margorie awoke from her coma, sat straight up and screamed.
The fate of the grave-robbers remains unknown. One story says the men dropped dead on the spot, while another claims they fled and never returned to their chosen profession.
Margorie climbed out of the hole and made her way back to her home.
Her husband John, a doctor, was at home with the children when he heard a knock at the door. He told the children, “If your mother were still alive, I’d swear that was her knock.”
When he opened the door to find his wife standing there, dressed in her burial clothes, blood dripping from her finger but very much alive, he dropped dead to the floor. He was buried in the plot Margorie had vacated.
Margorie went on to re-marry and have several children. When she did finally die, she was returned to Shankill Cemetery in Lurgan, Ireland, where her gravestone still stands. It bears the inscription “Lived Once, Buried Twice.”
wupacing 