Irish repeal could swing on expat vote

DUBLIN• Nearly 40,000 Irish citizens have been urged to return home to vote in a referendum on repealing the country’s tough abortion laws, in the hope of tipping the odds in favour of reform.

According to the latest polls, 56 per cent of the country will vote Friday to repeal Ireland’s eighth amendment, which allows abortions only in cases where the mother’s life is at risk, while 27 per cent oppose reform, and around one in seven are undecided.

One poll on Sunday suggested that support for repeal was growing, in an apparent reversal of a recent trend that suggested the result would be too close to call. Though the pro-choice Yes campaign has held a consistent majority since the referendum was announced, experts warn the high number of undecided voters — and concerns of “abortion on demand” in Ireland — could produce a shock No vote.

As a result, Ireland’s cohort of workers in the EU and beyond are flocking back to the emerald isle — encouraged by the Home To Vote campaign — to cast their vote in what many regard as a long overdue vote on women’s rights.

Erica, a 25-year-old from County Kildare who lives and works in Brussels, said: “Voting Yes will allow more compassionate legislation so that women can choose what is right for them.

“It’s not necessarily proabortion, it’s pro-choice. Having that option for a multitude of reasons is very important and women do not have that option,” said the PR professional.

Blaithin Carroll, 21, who works in London, said she would vote Yes in support of her grandmother, who was forced to carry her pregnancy to term despite suffering from a fatal fetal abnormality.

“She should not have had this experience, and over 50 years later, women of Ireland should not be having this experience. No Irish woman in the future should have this experience, no matter the circumstances of her pregnancy.

“I’m travelling home to vote with the hope that my one journey from the U.K. to Ireland will help prevent the 3,000 journeys taken every year by women travelling for abortion services abroad, because their own country turned them away,” she said.

Not everyone who is coming home plans to vote Yes, however. The group Love Both, for example, is also calling on young conservative voters to return to Ireland and cast their vote for No.

“I think babies deserve the right to life and deserve protection just like everybody else, and I don’t think this is the best thing for women, I think women deserve better than abortions,” said Rebecca, a pro-life voter flying back to Dublin from London, in a No campaign video.