Turnaround on abortion astounding

As little as 20 years ago, it would have seemed unimaginable that Ireland might have legalised both gay marriage and abortion. However, with Friday’s overwhelming and welcome vote to remove the constitutional ban on termination it has now done both in the space of three years. And this was no narrow victory; two-thirds backed change.

It is a remarkable turnaround, reflecting how in recent decades younger Irish citizens have forced politicians to accelerate the pace of change, and how amid its own scandals, the fiercely conservative Catholic church has lost its moral authority to determine personal choices.

Just one day after the result, it now seems strange to think that those campaigning for the repeal of Ireland’s abortion ban felt worried about the outcome or that opinion polls predicted a tight contest.

Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, described the outcome as a “quiet revolution”. The resounding win of the pro-choice campaign is a victory for women’s rights, for an informed and effective grassroots effort and ultimately for pragmatism over absolutism.

The onus is now on members of Ireland’s parliament to create more humane legislation that strips away the eighth amendment, which gives a foetus equal rights to a pregnant woman. Irish women have suffered terribly at the hands of a constitution that in effect gave the state control over their bodies, their sexuality and in the worst instances life and death. In a series of referendums, Ireland has now stripped the constitution of its most noxious doctrinal clauses. Laws banning divorce and gay marriage and stigmatising mental health issues have all gone. Subjects once taboo are now talked of openly.

There are more battles to come and other anachronisms in the Irish constitution.

The next big fight, however, should be in Northern Ireland, which has been left with some of the most illiberal abortion laws in Europe. London, May 27