The Global Thread, is a special four part series that will raise public awareness of active citizenship around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  Produced in partnership with Comhlamh, this series will focus on gender equality and reproductive rights; sustainable energy and extractive industries; deinstitutionalisation of children’s care and economic inequalities.  Each programme features interviews with people at the frontline in fighting for a sustainable future for our planet.

Episode 4: Women on the March

Following the successful referendum to remove the 8th amendment from the Irish constitution, Ireland has become a beacon of hope for women in other parts of the work where abortions are prohibited or allowed in very specific cases, which means that women are too often forced to risk their lives and health as they undertake unsafe procedures in unsanitary conditions, often resulting in infection, permanent reproductive health disabilities and death. The programme will examine the current situation in Ireland and how the legalisation of abortion has inspired others women organisations working on reproductive health in Mexico.

Interviewees:

1. Maeve Taylor, Director of Advocacy and Communications with the Irish Family Planning Association, Her role involves advocacy in relation to Irish law and policy and overseas development policy.  She has a background in adult education, with a focus on gender, development and human rights. Maeve holds a Bachelor of Civil Law degree from University College Dublin and a Master’s degree in human rights law from Queen’s University, Belfast.

2. María Luisa Sánchez Fuentes, former Director of the Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE, Information Group on Reproductive Choice), and organisation that has helped place women’s reproductive rights on the political agenda, keeping this debate alive despite an adversarial context. María Luisa has a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington.

Produced by Mark Malone (Comhlamh) and Sally Galiana (Near FM)

Made with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the television licence fee.