We Own Our Hospitals: Rally for public ownership of the National Maternity Hospital

Published: Friday, May 19, 2017

A massive 2,000 people attended the "We Own Our Hospitals" rally, organised by NWCI, alongside Uplift and Parents for Choice, calling for the National Maternity Hospital to be kept in public ownership. 

The rally took place on Sunday May 7th, and ended with brilliant speeches from NWCI, Uplife, Parents for Choice and Justice for Magdalenes Research, as well as some great music from Voices for Choice. 

At the rally the viral Uplift petition signed by 103,683 people over two weeks was unfolded in front of the crowd at Merrion Square, close to Holles Street.

Women in Ireland deserve a state of the art National Maternity Hospital which puts women’s health, wellbeing and choices at the centre of all care.

At the rally, NWCI Director Orla O'Connor called on the Government to ensure that the National Maternity Hospital is fully independent and will provide the full range of reproductive services for women in Ireland, including abortion, in particular if the Eighth Amendment is repealed. NWCI also said that the Government should develop a broader policy that would seek to remove the involvement of religious orders from the provision of publicly funded healthcare services in this country.