Irish welcome abortion – poll
THERE are shouts and cries of delight on the streets of Dublin, as exit polls and incoming tallies suggest that Friday’s controversial referendum on the legalisation of abortion has secured a positive outcome.
Despite polls indicating that a “yes” vote would be achieved, the prediction that 69% of the electorate has voted in favour of changing the law is unprecedented and marks a watershed moment in this previously conservative country’s history.
A divisive issue in Ireland for many decades, the law making it illegal for women to procure abortions was introduced in 1983 following a referendum which secured 66% of the country’s vote.
The introduction of this provision saw a public backlash from the get-go, notably from future Irish President Mary Robinson who was publicly outspoken on the issue. Over the next decades, the provision would result in dire consequences for Irish women. It prevented rape victims from terminating pregnancies, and in one notable case in 1992, prevented a 14-year-old rape victim from procuring an abortion in England.
It also prevented cancer sufferers, asylum seekers and those carrying children with fatal foetal abnormalities from terminating their pregnancies in Ireland.
The passage of time saw the incremental relaxation of the abortion law, with developments allowing for women to legally travel abroad to terminate pregnancies, for information on foreign abortions to be supplied in Ireland and most recently for pregnancies to be terminated if there was a risk to the mother’s life, but it remained a criminalised offence for a woman to terminate a pregnancy in her own country or to utilise abortion pills.
Changing attitudes towards the Catholic religion and controversies within the church, coupled with the rise of a new and significantly more liberal generation of Irish people, saw increased pressure applied on the Irish government to change the law.
The catalyst for the referendum, however, was the death of Savita Halappanavar, an Indian dentist who died in Ireland in 2012 due to sepsis following a refused abortion. Halappanavar’s death resulted in an international outcry, which prompted the Irish government to formulate a referendum to amend the law on abortions.
The shifting attitudes of the Irish people have been evidenced in recent decades through the legalisation of divorce, contraception and notably same-sex marriage.
Despite this serving as a positive indicator that the country would vote in favour of legalising abortion, many believed that the divisive nature of the issue coupled with the influence of “rural Ireland” would result in a close vote. Exit polls and current tallies suggest that this premonition was incorrect, and RTE exit polls indicate that rural Ireland has voted 63% in favour of repeal.
If exit poll predictions are correct, an overwhelming 69% of the country has voted in favour of legalising abortion, the significance of which cannot be underestimated.
At such a politically uncertain time in history, the positive affirmation of women’s rights in a country previously regarded as the archaic relation of the EU is to be celebrated.
In the words of the country’s blanket pro-choice movement “Together for Yes”, Ireland has voted in favour of “compassion, care and change”.
Macloingsigh is a law student in Ireland, covering the abortion referendum results from Dublin.