Bitter divides are exposed as Ireland has its say on abortion
First came a trio of elderly nuns, shielding their eyes against the early morning glare. Then scores of excited students, and a group of mothers with prams; three generations of Irish women determined to make history. As the sun rose over Dublin, long queues waited for polling stations to open, as hundreds of thousands turned out to have their say on whether to repeal the country’s strict abortion laws.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said one election officer in the southern suburb of Harold’s Cross. “It’s nearly all young people.”
Experts said the turnout – higher by midday than the same-sex marriage referendum in 2015 – pointed towards a Yes vote that would reverse the status quo. Last night, exit polls indicated that Ireland had voted by a landslide to reform its tough abortion laws. According to the Irish Times projection, 68 per cent voted in favour voted Yes to scrapping the country’s de facto ban on abortion. Another exit poll, by the broadcaster RTE, put the majority slightly higher at 69 per cent.
Leaders of the pro-life No Campaign appeared to concede the referendum in a post on Twitter last night, as Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said: “It’s looking like we will make history tomorrow.”
Voters were asked whether to repeal the constitution’s eighth amendment, which only permits abortion if the mother’s life is at risk, one of the most conservative laws in the world.
The amendment, it is argued, forces thousands of women to travel to England each year for terminations. Illegal terminations at home carry a 14-year sentence for the mother.
The referendum has exposed bitter divides in Ireland across generational and cultural lines and spurred a debate about national identity.
Emotions ran high yesterday. One woman burst into tears as polling officers said they could not find her name on the register. Bibles were on hand in some polling stations so that voters who forgot their identity cards could swear an oath to prove they were not impersonating anyone.
The pro-choice Yes campaign says repealing the eighth amendment will pave the way for more compassionate laws that will spare women the trauma of having abortions in exile. But the No campaign says the government’s planned alternative of unrestricted terminations up to 12 weeks will permit “abortion on demand” and put the lives of unborn children at risk in the deeply Catholic country.
After voting, many Dubliners flocked to St Stephen’s Green, in the heart of the city, to bask in the sunshine amid continued feverish discussion. Erin, 23, and Nicola, 22, taking shade under a tree, said they were wracked with anxiety about a possible No vote – but were also deeply excited at the prospect of repeal.
“We’re feeling anxious, to be honest,” said Erin, who marked the end of her exams at Trinity College with a vote for Yes. “We live in a bubble here in Dublin where it feels like everyone will vote for repeal, but outside the bubble we don’t know what people will decide.”
For Carol Hunter, the founder of Grandparents for Repeal, the vote was a chance to undo the decades of stigma and shame. “As a grandparent – where the role is to support and nurture and protect – we can’t go on like this,” she said. “This is an opportunity to show the world we care, that we are loving.”
If the country is split in private, in Dublin it was the pro-choice campaign that dominated the streets, which thronged with people wearing “I voted Yes” stickers. Campaigners in hi-vis jackets brandished placards, while above them, the rooftops were dotted with giant banners. A handful of pro-life canvassers made last minute pleas to passers-by, with one warning a weary voter that the vote had been hijacked by the “abortion industry”. Anthony Doyle, 76, who also voted No in the gay marriage referendum, said: “If you make something free and easy to access, people will abuse that, they might be more reckless.”
The Yes campaign has been boosted by large numbers of young voters, many travelling across the world and posting their stories under the hashtag #hometovote.
For several days at Dublin airport, activists have been gathering in the arrivals lounge, clapping and cheering as they greet Irish expats returning from as far away as Los Angeles, Hanoi and Nairobi. One group of well-wishers held a large “welcome home” banner. Another unfurled a sign which said: “Thank you for making the journey so other women don’t have to.”
Tara Flynn, a 48-year-old Yes voter, who had to fly to the Netherlands for an abortion 11 years ago, said: “It’s a vote to say, I don’t send you away any more,” referring to women who are forced to go abroad for terminations.
Since Thursday, fleets of cars driven by volunteers have been ferrying voters from the airport to polling stations across the country. Many used social media to offer lifts, with Molly O’cathain tweeting a photograph of her car with a sign in the window that read “Repeal Mobile”.
Dublin was expected to vote in favour of reform, a position shared by Mr Varadkar. “I’m quietly confident,” he told reporters.
The challenge to the Yes vote was expected from Ireland’s conservative rural areas, such as Roscommon and Galway. “If we vote yes, every unborn, wanted and unwanted, will have zero rights,” said No voter Frances Kelleher, from Killarney, in a letter to the Irish Independent. “I do not believe the smart people of Ireland want this unrestricted, abortion-on-demand bill.”
Meanwhile, Irish Catholic bishops urged voters not to scrap the eighth amendment, as it would be a “manifest
‘We can’t go on like this. This is an opportunity to show the world we care, that we are loving’
injustice” that would “leave unborn children at the mercy of whatever permissive abortion laws might be introduced in Ireland in the future”.
As the Yes vote held a slim lead in the polls, the No campaign hoped voters might decide at the last minute to support the status quo, amid claims the 12 week limit is “too extreme,” because women will not need to give any reason for having an abortion.
“Today is international missing children’s day. In the UK, eight million children have gone missing since the abortion law was introduced,” said John Mcguirk, of the Save the Eighth campaign. “I hope Ireland will not make the same mistake today.”
As the day drew to an end, Erin and Nicola said they were looking forward to life in Ireland returning to normal after a hard-fought and at times bitterly divisive campaign. “Things have got very intense. I just want it to end and for us to see a more progressive, compassionate Ireland. I hope that happens today,” said Nicola.