Ireland overturns ban on abortion
Dublin, May 26: Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar hailed a “quiet revolution” on Saturday as the traditionally Catholic country liberalised some of Europe’s strictest abortion laws in a historic landslide referendum vote.
Pro- choice supporters of all ages cheered and cried with joy at counting centres in Dublin as the country voted overwhelmingly to overturn the abortion ban by 66.4 per cent in a landslide victory for the yes vote.
Currently, abortion is only allowed when a woman’s life is at risk, but not in cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality, BBC reported. The Eighth Amendment, which grants an equal right to life to the mother and unborn will be replaced.
“What we’ve seen today is the culmination of a quiet revolution that has been taking place in Ireland for the past 10 or 20 years,” Mr Varadkar told national broadcaster RTE. “The people have said that we want a modern constitution for a modern country, that we trust women and that we respect them to make the right decisions and the right choices about their own healthcare.” Mr Varadkar said he wanted a new law allowing abortions to be enacted by the end of the year.
The proposals would see abortion allowed in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances. The result looks set to be another hammer blow to the Roman Catholic Church's authority in Ireland.
What we've seen today is the culmination of a quiet revolution that has been taking place in Ireland for the past 10 or 20 years
— Leo Varadkar Irish PM
Abortion rights activists proclaimed victory for Irish women on Saturday as referendum results indicated voters in largely Roman Catholic Ireland overwhelmingly backed repealing a 1983 constitutional ban on abortions.
Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, speaking Saturday after exit polls suggested voters chose to liberalise Ireland’s strict abortion laws by a margin of more than two to one, called the result the culmination of a “quiet revolution.”
“The people have spoken,” said Varadkar, a medical doctor who campaigned for repeal in Friday’s historic referendum. “The people have said that we want a modern constitution for a modern country, that we trust women and we respect them to make the right decision and the right choices about their health care.”
Varadkar said the large margin of victory will give his government a greater mandate when drafting abortion legislation that will be submitted for parliamentary approval in a matter of months.
Voters were asked whether they wanted to keep or repeal the Eighth Amendment to Ireland’s Constitution, which requires authorities to treat a fetus and its mother as equals under the law. It outlawed all abortions until 2014, when the procedure started being allowed in rare cases when a woman’s life was in danger.
Campaigners who have fought for more than three decades to remove the Eighth Amendment abortion ban from Ireland’s Constitution hailed the referendum vote as a major breakthrough for the largely Catholic nation.
“This is a monumental day for women in Ireland,” said Orla O’Connor, co- director of the Together for Yes group. “This is about women taking their rightful place in Irish society, finally.”
The vote is a “rejection of an Ireland that treated women as second- class citizens,” she said, adding: “This is about women’s equality and this day brings massive change, monumental change for women in Ireland, and there is no going back.”