It’s the final stretch.
On Friday, Ireland will vote either Yes or No to repeal the 8th amendment. Many campaigners have been out in their droves this week for the final push, and now Irish singer Hozier has released a video asking people to vote Yes.
Releasing a snippet on Instagram, with a full video on Youtube, Hozier opens by saying: “I just wanted to send on a wee video about this upcoming Friday.
“Ireland as you know we have a referendum on our hands and a huge and important opportunity to help grant our fellow citizens access to health care and reproductive rights that they have long been denied in Ireland.”
Hozier then goes on to talk about his conversations with “young men” and how they think they should “stand aside from it.”
He says that if men want to stay “out of it” then the best decision is to vote Yes, so women have the choice to do what they need to.
“To not use your vote, in this important referendum is to support a system which brings about needless suffering and grief for people in crisis pregnancies. It’s to support a system which forces your fellow citizens, essentially, to give birth against their will or force them to travel for services and healthcare at great risk to their own health and wellbeing, and at risk of a jail sentence.”
He finishes his video by urging: “I don’t believe anybody has the right to tell somebody what they can and cannot do with their own body and that’s precisely why I’ll be voting Yes and if you’re of that same mind I hope you’ll join with me on the Yes vote on Friday the 25th of May. Thank you very much.”
