Mary Lou McDonald says politicians cannot 'run away' from abortion issue
Thousands of people are expected to turn out for a Pro-Choice march in the capital today.
The 5th Annual March for Choice is organised by the Abortion Rights Campaign and will begin at 2pm.
The March coincides with the annual Global Day of Action for Safe and Legal Abortion.
Speaking in advance of the March, Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald says the 8th amendment needs to be removed from the Constitution.
She said: "What needs to happen is repeal of the 8th Amendment. It's not a case of amending the Constitution, it's about taking the 8th Amendment out and ensuring that, in the case of women's health and women's wellbeing, that decisions are made between the woman and her doctor.
"That we don’t force women and indeed families into the absolute horror and indignity."
Ms McDonald said it is time for action on the issue.
She said: "The time where the system and politicians of different stripes run away from the realities that face every day, every week has to end.
"We need a bit of honesty now, we need a bit of decency."
Meanwhile, the Pro-Life campaign says Irish people do not want wide-ranging abortion.
It believes that both sides of the abortion debate are not receiving equal attention at the moment, which it says could be a problem if a referendum were to be held.
Katie Ascough, from Students for Life, said: "I really don’t feel that people are being given an equal representation of both sides.
"In my own personal experience, I'm in UCD, we have our own students' union and it's completely pro-choice. Yes there are so many students that are not represented that are pro-life.
"And also for the students in the middle, I feel that it is quite unfair to their freedom of choice to choose whether they are pro-life or pro-choice when they are having only one side really shouting them down basically."
