By Laura McBride
The people of Ireland have voted to repeal the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution, which outlaws abortion in the country, in a historic referendum on Friday.
The people of Ireland have voted to repeal the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution, which outlaws abortion in the country, in a historic referendum on Friday.
Until 2013, abortion was totally outlawed in the country, but this was amended following the tragic case of Savita Halappanavar, who was refused an abortion because a foetal heartbeat was detected despite contracting septicaemia. This allowed doctors to carry out terminations only if there is a risk to the life of the woman. Prior to this, the right to life of the foetus was equivalent to the right to life of the mother, and was not negotiable under any circumstances.
Exit polls by RTÉ have suggested that more than 69% of Irish voters chose to repeal the 8th Amendment, which will be replaced by legislation to allow abortion in all circumstances up to 12 weeks, there have been further recommendations to allow pregnancy termination further along in cases of foetal deformity and risk to life of either foetus or mother.
The Irish government party, Fine Gael, campaigned extensively for the liberalisation of the abortion policy, and the taoiseach of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, described the result as a “quiet revolution” toward the modernisation of the constitution. Ireland was previously the first country to have a popular vote for the legalisation of gay marriage, which was seen as a move away from the traditional domination of the Catholic Church in the country.
The Church advocated strongly against both abortion and gay marriage legalisation, so public defiance of this could see Ireland lose the title of “most Catholic country in the world”.
Definitive results are expected as of Saturday evening, but an overwhelming majority in favour of repeal is expected. After 37 out of 40 constituencies declared, the Yes vote currently stands at 67.3%.
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