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| First exit poll suggests Ireland has voted to relax abortion laws | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| An early exit poll has suggested that Ireland has voted to liberalise some of the world’s most restrictive abortion laws by a landslide margin. | |
| The Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI exit poll on Friday suggested that voters had backed the change by a margin of 68% to 32%. | |
| Turnout could be one of the highest for a referendum, national broadcaster RTE reported, potentially topping the 61% who backed same-sex marriage by a large margin in 2015. Voters queued outside polling stations throughout the day in the blistering sunshine. | |
| Ireland is set to vote on abortion law reform on Friday 25 May. In a the referendum, voters will decide if they want to repeal an article in the republic’s constitution known as the eighth amendment. | |
| The amendment, or article 40.3.3 of the constitution, gives unborn foetuses and pregnant mothers an equal right to life – and is, in effect, a ban on abortion. Currently, terminations are allowed only when the life of the mother is at risk, with a penalty of up to 14 years in prison for breaking the law. | |
| The government in Dublin has promised to introduce legislation allowing for abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy if the vote goes in favour of repeal. | |
| The Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, whosupported the change and called the referendum a once-in-a-generation chance, said earlier on Friday that he was quietly confident that the high turnout was a good sign. | |
| Vote counting begins at 0800 GMT on Saturday, with the first indication of results expected by mid-morning. | |
| 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. | |
| Ireland legalised divorce by a razor-thin majority only in 1995, but became the first country to adopt same-sex marriage by popular vote in a 2015 referendum. | |
| But no social issue has divided its 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. | |
| “I think this issue is important because it’s been 35 years since any person has had a choice to vote,” said Sophie O’Gara, 28, who was voting yes near Dublin’s bustling Silicon Docks, home to some of the world’s biggest technology firms. | |
| “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,” she said, referring to women who travel to Britain for abortions. | |
| The fiercely contested vote divided political parties, saw the once-mighty church take a back seat and became a test case for how global internet giants deal with social media advertising in political campaigns. | |
| Unlike in 1983, when religion was front and centre and abortion was a taboo subject for most, the campaign was defined by women on both sides publicly describing their personal experiences of terminations. | |
| Yes campaigners argued that with over 3,000 women travelling to Britain each year for terminations – a right enshrined in a 1992 referendum – and others ordering pills illegally online, abortion was already a reality in Ireland. | |
| Although not on the ballot paper, the no camp seized on government plans to allow abortions with no restriction up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy if the referendum was carried, calling it a human rights issue and a step too far for most voters. | |
| “I think it’s important that we protect the unborn babies, people don’t care anymore about the dignity of human life. I’ve a family myself and I think it’s really important,” said John Devlin, a marketing worker in his 50s voting no near Dublin’s city centre. | |
| The Irish government’s push to liberalise the laws is in contrast to the United States, where abortion has long been legal, but President Donald Trump backs stripping federal funding from women’s health care clinics that offer abortions. | |
| Videos shared on social media showed scores of voters arriving home at Irish airports from abroad for the referendum. Those using the #hometovote hashtag on Twitter appeared overwhelmingly to back change. Many posted photos of themselves wearing sweatshirts bearing the “Repeal” slogan. | |
| “Women and girls should not be made into healthcare refugees when they are in a time of crisis,” said Niamh Kelly, 27, who paid €800 euros and travelled 20 hours to return home from Hanoi where she works as an English teacher. “This is a once in a lifetime generation chance to lift the culture of shame that surrounds this issue so it was really important to me to be part of that.“ | |
| Irish abortion referendum | |
| Ireland | Ireland |
| Abortion | Abortion |
| Health | Health |
| Women | Women |
| Europe | Europe |
| news | news |
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