Ireland brings abortion out of the shadows
DUBLIN — Irish voters overwhelmingly backed repealing Irelands abortion ban, paving the way for lawmakers to pass new legislation on one of the most divisive issues in the historically Catholic country.
Some 66.4 percent of voters backed repealing the ban, over 33.6 percent who voted against, according to the official tally of Fridays referendum, announced Saturday.
The overwhelming victory for the abortion rights campaign, which comes three years after voters backed legalizing same-sex marriage, marks the “culmination of a quiet revolution,” said Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who campaigned to overturn the ban.
The result reflects deep disillusionment with Catholic institutions and church influence on the government that follows years of scandals over abuse and the incarceration of women. It also indicates that Ireland can no longer be held up as the Catholic bastion it once was, a blow for the Vatican months before Pope Francis is due to visit the country in August.
The turnout — 64 percent — was unusually high for an Irish referendum, delivering the biggest mandate for a proposal since the Good Friday Agreement. Only one of Irelands 40 constituencies, Donegal, saw a majority vote against repeal.
“Im delighted. Speechless,” said Saoirse Long, a radio DJ whose story about traveling abroad for an abortion went viral. The result, she said, shows that Ireland had voted with compassion.
“I honestly thought it was going to be close, and at one point I thought it wouldnt pass at all. Thats why I came out with my story. I thought if someone sees the impact it has on an ordinary person they might think differently,” she said.
Voters were asked to decide whether to amend Irelands constitution by striking its eighth amendment, which gives mother and the unborn an equal right to life, essentially outlawing abortion in almost all circumstances.
The referendum now gives parliament the authority to legislate on abortion, and the government has said it will propose a bill to allow terminations for any reason through the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Yes vote supporters celebrate the results of the Irish referendum concerning the countrys abortion laws at Dublin Castle on May 26, 2018 in Dublin | Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
Once the changes are enacted, Poland, Malta and Northern Ireland will be the only places in the EU with broad abortion bans.
“[Abortion is] not a secret anymore,” said Mary Higgins, an obstetrician and vocal figure in the Yes campaign.
But campaigners on the No side have warned the fight isnt over.
The results, said Ruth Cullen of the anti-abortion campaign Love Both, “represent a sea change on abortion in Ireland and sadly pave the way for an abortion regime that has nothing to do with health care and everything to do with abortion on demand.”
She pledged to hold Varadkar “to his promise that repeal would only lead to abortion in very restrictive circumstances.”
A personal campaign
Counting began Saturday morning at Dublin Castle, seat of British rule for centuries before independence. Its courtyard soon filled with Yes supporters, mainly female, as the result neared. The No side was nearly nowhere to be seen. Key campaign figures were met with cheers and applause as they entered, and a choir sang the campaign song “Dont stop repealing,” which recounts the path to the referendum.
“In the lead-up to this day, I was thinking I didnt want to be pregnant in Ireland,” said Natasha Kenny, 23, a student from Athlone who spent months canvassing in the rural countrysides of Roscommon and Westmeath.
“Now I feel if I was pregnant I wouldnt have my health care denied and I could have a safe pregnancy,” she said.
“This referendum is remarkable for what it says about where Irish democracy is now” — Graham Finlay, university lecturer
As many as 10 Irish women a day currently cross the Irish Sea for abortions, according to figures from the U.K.s National Health Service, and an estimated three to five women a day take abortion pills obtained illegally online.
The unborns right to life was enshrined in the constitution as a result of a 1983 referendum. Later updates to the law clarified that abortion is allowed when the mothers life is at risk and to allow women to travel abroad for the procedure.
While pre-election surveys showed a consistent lead for the repeal effort, the anti-abortion side seemed to gain ground as the election approached. In the end, both sides were caught off guard by the landslide result.
Varadkar credited the personal stories of women denied abortions, including their trials traveling abroad for the procedure, with swaying the public to vote Yes.
“This referendum is remarkable for what it says about where Irish democracy is now,” said Graham Finlay, a lecturer at the University College Dublins School of Politics and International Relations.
Irelands Prime Minister Leo Varadkar (center) stands with campaigners waiting for the official result of the Irish abortion referendum at Dublin Castle in Dublin on May 26, 2018 | Paul Faith/AFP via Getty Images
“Ireland is a small country and the politics is personal to a degree that only a small country can afford. That is why the referendum was won by people telling their personal stories, in public or to friends and families,” he said.
“It was the grassroots campaign that won this,” Ruth Coppinger, a left-wing lawmaker with the Solidarity-People before Profit group who was an early champion of abortion reform, said as she handed out stickers reading “We made history.”
In Dublin, shaken Yes supporters cried as the early returns suggested it would be a landslide vote to repeal and even rural constituencies indicated large Yes majorities.
Fridays exit polls showed that anticipated gaps between men and women and between young and old largely failed to materialize.
In a poll conducted by Behaviour & Attitudes for RTÉ, around 72 percent of women voted to repeal and nearly 66 percent of men. The Yes vote was 72 percent in urban areas and 63 percent in rural sections.
Health Minister Simon Harris said he would move to start drawing up legislation on Tuesday and hoped to have the bill passed this year.
“That says to me that we are a nation thats not divided, that we are a nation thats united to make this change,” Varadkar said.
Young adults showed the most support for Repeal, with more than eight in 10 people under 34 saying they voted for it.
The only group to overwhelming support upholding the ban were those over 65, among whom nearly 59 percent voted No.
Henry, from Dublin, in his late 70s, who would not give his surname, stood slightly back from the cheering crowds in Dublin Castle.
“Im a No voter but Id say Im in the minority of a minority here today. Its like a carnival atmosphere,” he said.
“I do have compassion for people who did feel the need to go away for an abortion, but I think this will open the floodgates to abortion on demand … Im kind of astounded. I thought it would be tighter,” he said.
Jenny Palmer, 26, from Mullingar, said she was surprised by the outcome.
“This morning was a shock. My whole family were big No voters, and I got a lot of them over to the Yes side,” she said, bouncing her two-year-old son on her hip.
The 12-week plan
While the referendum was technically only about repealing the constitutional ban, the government released a detailed legislative proposal ahead of the vote to legalize abortion for any reason up to 12 weeks. (Beyond that point, the procedure would be allowed in cases of rape, incest, fatal birth defect or when the mothers health is at risk.)
Nuns vote at a polling station in a Muslim school in south Dublin on May 25, 2018 | Naomi OLeary/POLITICO
For many undecided voters, their discomfort with the 12-week timeframe was a major sticking point, and the RTÉ exit poll showed a weaker majority — 52 percent — back that aspect of the proposal.
Yet the fact that the government was open about its plans allowed it to claim a mandate for the new law, and a political consensus quickly emerged Saturday, even among some opponents, that the proposal should be passed.
Health Minister Simon Harris said he would move to start drawing up legislation on Tuesday and hoped to have the bill passed this year.
“We must respect the peoples choice & I will be backing government legislation,” Anne Rabbitte, a Fianna Fáil lawmaker who opposed repeal, tweeted Saturday morning. She included a picture of herself with Ailbhe Smyth, a prominent abortion rights campaigner.
Others disagreed. “Theres a long way to go before legislation is passed,” said Pro Life Campaign spokeswoman Cora Sherlock.
Sarah Wheaton contributed reported from Brussels. Naomi OLeary contributed reported from Dublin.
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