IRELAND VOTES FOR ‘NEXT GENERATION’
Irish travel from around world to overturn abortion ban
The Irish voters who overturned a constitutional ban on abortion by a two-to-one margin yesterday counted many among them who traveled from across the world, including Boston, to cast votes in their home country.
“Pushing the country forward in any way we could was a worthwhile cause,” said Stephen Purcell, an Ireland native who now lives in Boston. “I would have been devastated if I didn’t fly and it didn’t pass.”
Purcell, who voted for the repeal, said he and his girlfriend spent about $750 to fly back for a few days to make sure they could cast votes. Purcell was one of many who made their way back to Ireland to vote, rallying behind a #hometovote social media movement.
“It really does feel like a new generation in Ireland. The old Catholic guard are losing majority and the liberal younger crowd are winning,” he said.
The decisive outcome of the landmark referendum held Friday exceeded expectations and was cast as a historic victory for women’s rights. Polls had given the pro-repeal “yes” side a small lead, but suggested the contest would be close.
Since 1983, the now-repealed Eighth Amendment had forced women seeking to terminate pregnancies to go abroad for abortions, bear children conceived through rape or incest, or take illegal measures at home.
As the final tally was announced showing over 66 percent of voters supported lifting the ban, crowds in the ancient courtyard of Dublin Castle began chanting “Savita! Savita!” in honor of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist who died of sepsis during a protracted miscarriage after being denied an abortion at a Galway hospital in 2012.
With exit polls showing a win for abortion rights campaigners, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called the apparent victory the “culmination of a quiet revolution.” Later, he hailed the momentous outcome as a victory for Ireland’s future.
“I said in recent days that this was a once-in-a-generation vote. Today I believe we have voted for the next generation,” said Varadkar, who is Ireland’s first openly gay leader as well as its first prime minister from an ethnic minority group.
The next battleground is likely to be Ireland’s parliament, where the government led by Varadkar hopes to capitalize on the fresh momentum and enact legislation spelling out the conditions under which abortions will be legal for the first time by the end of this year.
The plan is to allow abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and in special cases after the first trimester, likely ending the trail of Irish women who go elsewhere — mostly to neighboring Britain — by the thousands each year for abortions they can’t get at home.
“This is a monumental day for women in Ireland,” Orla O’Connor, co-director of the Together for Yes group, said. “This is about women taking their rightful place in Irish society, finally.”