Anonymous: “For my lovely mam who was forced to carry my sleeping brother to full term. She loved him. This country didn’t love her.”

Siobhan Donohue: “In memory of baby TJ delivered in Liverpool Women’s on October 1, 2011 and for all our TFMR [Terminations for Medical Reasons] babies. Let’s bring compassion home.”

Seamus Ruddy: “In memory of our little boy James who had a FFA [fatal fetal abnormality]. Tragedy should not be punished further by forcing parent(s) dealing with a crisis pregnancy to travel abroad to receive medical care.”

Anonymous: “For baby Jack who shouldn’t have had to suffer here.”

Anonymous: “For the little girl I never met— we both deserved better.”

Sylvia Smith: “For baby Grace and all the other babies who fly high!! Vote yes!!!!!!!”

They were the epitaphs that never made it to headstones. They were the epitaphs that the public should never have had access to.

They were the epitaphs written in the form of comments, posted to a fundraising website this week, raising money to pay for posters for Together For Yes.

Together for Yes is the national civil society campaign working to remove the Eighth Amendment from the Irish Constitution. The Eighth Amendment or Article 40.3.3 was voted into the Irish Constitution in 1983.

It reads: “The states acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”

It gave rise to a constitutional ban on abortion, in all circumstances including rape and fatal fetal abnormality, for almost 35 years.

This week, for the first time, the real result of this 35-year ban, was laid bare for all to read.

It was laid bare in the form of €415,678 in donations and the remarks by some of the 11,303 donors on the website crowdfund.togetherforyes.ie.

In the space of two days, from Tuesday to Thursday, almost half a million euro had been raised for Together For Yes, by donors, some anonymous, some breaking their silence for the first time, in the form of €2, €5, and even€1,200 donations.

Peadar Keegan, €1,200: “Since I probably can’t make it home to vote, I’m donating the price of a flight homeinstead.”

According to the rules of the Standards in Public Office, which oversees donations to political parties and political campaigns, the most an individual could donate was €2,500.

Peadar’s donation, however, was not typical of the donations to the page. In fact, the average donation was around €37, with most giving €10 or €20.

Anonymous €10: “I’m disabled and renting a room with my disability allowance, money is a daily worry. How I wish I could give more, do more, help more, and not just because I couldn’t make it through pregnancy, let alone care for a child.”

Anonymous €20: “For the son I left in England, and for my daughter, that she may never have to go through what I did.”

Anonymous €10: “I was sent home to miscarry because of the 8th. I will never forget the horror of those four days. And I was one of the lucky ones. To all the women who have suffered. I’m voting yes so my daughters don’t have to.”

Anonymity, this was another common thread on the page. While the finance and compliance manager of Together For Yes was checking that each of the donations were compliant with SIPO, in that they did not exceed €2,500 and came from either an Irish citizen resident here or abroad, or from someone resident here, all donors could choose to have their name displayed as “anonymous” on the page.

Some did, after all abortion is a deeply private and personal matter, but some did not.

Katherine O’Callaghan €50: “For Savita.”

Tania Usner €100: “Living abroad so only wish I could do more. Expecting my first baby in four months, a girl. This is for her.”

Helen Lambkin €10: “In memory of Ann Lovett.”

Emmet Cunningham €20: “This is for my four year old daughter, my partner and myself.”

Emma Deady €20: “In honor of Tom.”

Rezann Hutten-McGovern €20: “For my dear friend Aaron, who asked I donate here for his birthday.”

Then there were comments, mostly anonymous, telling the stories so many of us are familiar with.

Anonymous €50: “I never repaid my sister for not blinking when I told her I wanted to finish college rather thanbecome a mum at 19. She found the money, and we travelled to London. I was lucky to have such support, but so many don’t, and they shouldn’t need to.”

Marie Carberry €15: “Donated a second time in name of young girl who came to me 39 years ago, hysterical that her father would beat her and remove her from the house for getting pregnant. I lent her all my summer’s work money for a termination in UK. No regrets. Let’s do this.”

Then there was the fiver from someone who sat in that “quiet” room in Manchester.

Lucy M €5: “For the Irish women I sat with in a quiet room in Manchester in December 2012, in solidarity.”

Quiet. There is a word that could sum up how we have dealt with the issue of abortion in Ireland for all these years. It was happening. It is happening right now. And it will continue to happen, whether you like it or not.

But on May 25, you will get to decide whether it happens safely or not, in conjunction with doctors or not, in line with best medical practice or not, and within the realms of proper legislation or not.

One final note that may reflect public sentiment on this deeply private issue: In the run-up to the marriage equality referendum, the Yes Equality campaign ran two crowdfunding initiatives for posters.

Together they raised a total €180,000. On May 22, 2015, the people of Ireland passed the referendum by 1,201,607 votes to 734,300 votes.