The landslide Yes vote in the referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment on 25 May 2018 marked a coming of age for Irish society and its attitude towards women. In a result that stunned not only Irish voters but a global audience, the Irish electorate voted overwhelmingly in favour of women s right to access abortion in Ireland. It s a Yes! tells the inside story of the Together for Yes campaign, including the drama and the tension, providing an authoritative account of a landmark campaign in a referendum marked by misinformation from opponents to repeal that changed Irish society forever.
Together for Yes brought together individual activists and over 200 organisations from every sector of Irish society and from every county in the country. It s a Yes! gives previously unrevealed details of how three feminist activists, Gráinne Griffin, Orla O'Connor and Ailbhe Smyth, prepared for the referendum, brought together a huge platform of campaigners and allies, rolled out a whip-smart social media drive and a nationwide door-to-door canvassing operation, fundraised way beyond their target, and led the way for political parties and other civil society groups, while at the same time managing to maintain a remarkable unity of message in a situation where there was provocation at practically every turn. It also explores how and why the mainstream media often misunderstood this women-led campaign failing to see the harnessing of the power of grassroots support and on-the-ground activism and outlines the environment in which the vote took place a country that had been dominated by the Catholic Church for so long and with a list of scandals and tragedies perpetrated against women.
