Ireland set to end abortion ban
The people of Ireland are set to liberalize some of the world’s most restrictive abortion laws by a landslide, two exit polls from a referendum showed on Friday, as voters demanded change in what two decades ago was one of Europe’s most socially conservative countries.
If confirmed, the outcome will be the latest milestone on a path of change for a country which only legalized divorce by a razor thin majority in 1995 before becoming the first in the world to adopt gay marriage by popular vote three years ago.
“It’s looking like we will make history tomorrow,” Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who was in favour of change, said on Twitter.
Voters were asked if they wish to scrap a 1983 amendment to the constitution that gives an unborn child and its mother equal rights to life. The consequent prohibition on abortion was partly lifted in 2013 for cases where the mother’s life is in danger.
Photographs on Twitter showed campaigners hugging and in tears at the Together4yes umbrella group’s headquarters shortly after the first exit poll was published.
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan called it “another big step out of our dark past.” Minister for Children Katherine Zappone, an early advocate for holding the referendum, said an “emotional, historic day” lay ahead.
Varadkar called the vote a once-in-a-generation chance and voters responded with national broadcaster RTE reporting that turnout could be one of the highest for a referendum, potentially topping the 61 percent who backed gay marriage by a large margin.
No social issue has divided Ireland’s 4.8 million people as sharply as abortion, which was pushed up the political agenda by the death in 2012 of a 31-year-old Indian immigrant from a septic miscarriage after she was refused a termination.
Yet the Irish Times exit poll showed overwhelming majorities in all age groups under 65 voted for change, including almost nine in every 10 voters under the age of 24.
The RTE poll suggested the highest “Yes” vote was in Dublin, where 80 percent were in favor, but there was no sharp urban/rural divide as in previous referendums on the subject, with 63 percent of people living in areas with a population under 1,500 backing the proposals.
“So many women have travelled across to England to take care of their family and healthcare needs and I think it’s a disgrace and it needs to change,” said “Yes” voter Sophie O’Gara, 28, referring to women who travel to Britain for abortions.
Source: Reuters