UP TO 100 students from Trinity College marched on Leinster House yesterday to call for women to have the right of choice on matters relating to abortion.
The TCD Students' Union organised the march to protest at a High Court injunction which has prevented it from disseminating abortion information since 1989.
The march preceded today's Supreme Court judgment on the original Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) versus Grogan case, which began in 1989.
Although the passing of the travel and information referendums in 1992 made it legal for a woman to travel abroad for an abortion and to receive non-directive counselling and information on abortion services in this State, the injunction prevented the provision of this kind of information.
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and the UCD Students' Union are also parties to the case.
According to Mr Fergus Finnegan, president of the TCD Students' Union, the union could be forced to close if it loses the action and has to pay legal costs. "Student protesters have been campaigning for the right to choose since the 1989 injunction", he said.
Ms Katrina McAteer, women's rights officer at TCD, said it was the right of every woman to make a decision about all reproductive choices.
To shouts of "Our unions, our bodies, our choice", the march ended at Leinster House, where Ms McAteer called on a member of the Oireachtas to address the crowd.
Senator David Norris, who was on his way into the building, congratulated the students on their stance. "I think students were marvellous to get involved in this case", he said.
The professor of criminology at TCD, Ms Ivana Bacik, who was president of the Students' Union in 1989, when the court action began, called for safe, legal abortion in the Republic.