Abortion Information Restricted by UCDSU Welfare Officer and President-Elect

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Friday April 07, 2006 18:31 by UCD Alliance For Choice - UCD Alliance For Choice

UCD Alliance for Choice slams Welfare Officer Dan Hayden

The UCD Alliance for Choice has strongly criticised the decision by the SU Welfare Officer and President-Elect Dan Hayden to restrict the access of UCD students to information regarding crisis pregnancy agencies in Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Acting on the mandate given to SU officers by a referendum which stated that the SU should provide information on all options in a crisis pregnancy including abortion both verbally and in Union publications, SU Education Officer Jane Horgan-Jones printed an A4 sheet containing contact details for crisis pregnancy agencies and affixed it to her office door. Within fifteen minutes the notice had been torn down by Hayden, who stated that it was “illegal” and spurned all suggestions that Horgan-Jones was acting in accordance with the mandate given to the SU by UCD’s students. Hayden repeatedly ripped down additional posters put up by the Education Officer following the initial incident, and has said that he will continue to do so.

Speaking on behalf of the UCD Alliance for Choice, Ciaragh O’Neill stated,

“It is typical and not unsurprising that in an otherwise male-dominated SU corridor, a female attempting to distribute information regarding abortion to UCD students in accordance with the mandate the SU was given is stopped by the conservative element within the SU. We fully accept the non-directive stance of the SU and are just attempting to ensure that UCD students have all the information available to them when making what is obviously a sensitive and important decision. This is already existing SU policy but Hayden has chosen not to act upon it.”

Ms Horgan-Jones made her disappointment in the President-Elect clear, saying

“It is a worrying trend that some officers this year appear to think that they are above mandates given to them by the students of UCD. I believe strongly in the non-directive policy but I also believe that it cannot be said to be truly non-directive if ALL information is not made available to students.”

When questioned about the legality of the situation and the possibility that she was breaking the law, Ms. Horgan-Jones stated,

“This very literature has been handed out outside the Department of Justice to members of An Garda Síochána without any legal repercussions whatsoever. It is clear that the archaic law preventing the dissemination of information is outdated, irrelevant and insulting to women. The students of UCD have clearly stated that they want this information and I do not believe that it should be withheld for them on the basis of such an obsolete law.”

Ends

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Ciaragh O’Neill