Very interesting and emotional article about pioneering women supporting other women. It was a sad situation for girls and ladies from Ireland having to travel here. I know abortion is an emotive subject depending on your religion and upbringing but I personally believe women have the right to chose. I worry with the current situation in the US seeming to be returning to prehistoric times where we will all be in a few years.
I can tell you how LASS started and how it got it’s name. A large number of us went over to Belfast on the ferry to demonstrate against the conditions for women in Armagh Jail. On the way home, a group of us discussed the difficulties for Irish women needing abortions and the expense of it. I suggested that we could set up a network to support them and give them free accommodation. Everyone was enthusiastic and when we were home, Jean Campbell and I called a meeting in my flat. We wanted a name and I suggested Liverpool Abortion Support Service (because of the acronym) . It was agreed and LASS came into existence. I never took part - I didn’t have a spare room but I was happy to have been there at the beginning.
Evocative article, recalling the strong links between Irish women and Liverpool, and the practical support provided here for Irish women facing problem pregnancies.
I was in LASS, and along with many other Liverpool women, welcomed Irish women and girls from all sorts of backgrounds, providing bed and board for a night and accompanying them to clinics.
The 1983 legislation in Ireland made abortion constitutionally illegal – the exact opposite of the supposed liberalisation you refer to - so they continued to cross the Irish sea. It was cheap flights to other British cities and day care procedures that meant Irish women had less need of overnight accommodation in Liverpool. We continued to accommodate these women throughout the 1980s and 90s, organised variously by LASS, then its successor ESCORT. ESCORT was driven by a group of young women at the Students Union of Liverpool John Moores University and others. We had a ‘telephone tree’ and rotas, and held fund raising events. The Irish women we saw continued to experience the anxiety and need for secrecy of their ‘illegal’ experience, until the Irish laws were finally overturned in the Referendum of 2018, and women there were given the same dignity and choice as their sisters in Europe and much of the world.
I don’t recognise the cultural distance mentioned by your interviewee – I got on great with all my guests, and my partner shared their background. I’m glad though that we’re no longer needed in the same way.
Very interesting and emotional article about pioneering women supporting other women. It was a sad situation for girls and ladies from Ireland having to travel here. I know abortion is an emotive subject depending on your religion and upbringing but I personally believe women have the right to chose. I worry with the current situation in the US seeming to be returning to prehistoric times where we will all be in a few years.
I can tell you how LASS started and how it got it’s name. A large number of us went over to Belfast on the ferry to demonstrate against the conditions for women in Armagh Jail. On the way home, a group of us discussed the difficulties for Irish women needing abortions and the expense of it. I suggested that we could set up a network to support them and give them free accommodation. Everyone was enthusiastic and when we were home, Jean Campbell and I called a meeting in my flat. We wanted a name and I suggested Liverpool Abortion Support Service (because of the acronym) . It was agreed and LASS came into existence. I never took part - I didn’t have a spare room but I was happy to have been there at the beginning.
Evocative article, recalling the strong links between Irish women and Liverpool, and the practical support provided here for Irish women facing problem pregnancies.
I was in LASS, and along with many other Liverpool women, welcomed Irish women and girls from all sorts of backgrounds, providing bed and board for a night and accompanying them to clinics.
The 1983 legislation in Ireland made abortion constitutionally illegal – the exact opposite of the supposed liberalisation you refer to - so they continued to cross the Irish sea. It was cheap flights to other British cities and day care procedures that meant Irish women had less need of overnight accommodation in Liverpool. We continued to accommodate these women throughout the 1980s and 90s, organised variously by LASS, then its successor ESCORT. ESCORT was driven by a group of young women at the Students Union of Liverpool John Moores University and others. We had a ‘telephone tree’ and rotas, and held fund raising events. The Irish women we saw continued to experience the anxiety and need for secrecy of their ‘illegal’ experience, until the Irish laws were finally overturned in the Referendum of 2018, and women there were given the same dignity and choice as their sisters in Europe and much of the world.
I don’t recognise the cultural distance mentioned by your interviewee – I got on great with all my guests, and my partner shared their background. I’m glad though that we’re no longer needed in the same way.
Thank you for your fulsome clarification.
Really interesting article. Thanks.
"...Liverpool as a destination for those seeking adoption services..." Is this a typo?