Making Health Public

If you follow me (or probably any other Irish person) (or read Irish news) (or are passingly aware of when Ireland makes foreign headlines), you probably heard that the Republic of Ireland voted last month to repeal the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution (Bunreacht na hÉireann). It was a massive, multiyear campaign that took off running after the tragic—and completely preventable—death of Irish dentist Savita Halappanavar.

I know that this topic is hard for many people and that there are a lot of very strong emotions. As a devout Roman Catholic, I’m familiar with both sides of the issue. I’m not going to dig into the intricacies of the philosophy on when life begins, but I will say this: I desperately wish that I lived in a world without abortion. I wish that I lived in a world in which every pregnancy was planned and healthy and no one ever had to make the decision whether to terminate their pregnancy. I wish I lived in that world, but it doesn’t exist. It is not my place to tell someone else what they need to do with their body and in no other instance do we insist that it is.

Last week was both Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day in the United States. Thanksgiving is right around the corner. These days remind me of the stories I heard in school as a child about the “discovery” of America and the “first people” to come here. As an immigrant family, the stories of these holidays weren’t a part of our home life, but they certainly appeared at school each autumn. I remember being told to memorise a poem about Columbus in first grade and the narrative of the first thanksgiving appearing in each US history course I took.

While having time off from school and work is nice (I certainly enjoy that part of civil service), these days are also wonderful opportunities to talk about the health disparities we see between Native American/Alaska Native (AIAN) and other groups in the US. Native writers have spoken and written and researched this far better than I will here, but it’s important for all public health practitioners to discuss the ways that the health of the people who grew us and raised us shapes our own health.