Ireland votes ‘yes’ to abortion: All you need to know about the historic referendum
Ireland abortion referendum: The vote will remove a 1983 amendment that required Irish authorities to defend the lives of a woman and a fetus equally on almost all abortions.
Candle and flowers are placed in front of a mural of Savita Halappanavar in Dublin as Ireland has voted to repeal the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution which prohibits abortions unless a mother’s life is in danger. (AP)
In an historic move, Irish voters overwhelmingly repealed a constitutional ban on abortions in a referendum that its prime minister called the culmination of a “quiet revolution” in what was one of Europe’s most socially conservative countries. Election official Barry Ryan said more than 1.4 million voters, or 66 percent of those who cast valid ballots, favoured repealing the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution while roughly 724,000 wanted to keep the abortion ban in place.
The “yes” votes exceeded expectations and will make it much easier for Irish women to obtain abortions legally for the first time and not have them travel outside of Ireland. The vote will remove a 1983 amendment that required Irish authorities to defend the lives of a woman and a fetus equally on almost all abortions.
“The people have spoken,” said Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, 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.” While campaigners across the world are rejoicing the victory, they are also remembering India’s Savita Halappanavar who is said to be the trigger behind the referendum.
What was the referendum about?
The referendum called for a change in Ireland’s abortion laws. Popularly known as the eighth amendment in the Irish constitution, the law recognises equal right to life for both mother and the foetus, effectively prohibiting termination of pregnancy for any reason. Anyone terminating a pregnancy in Ireland could face 14 years in jail.
In 2013, the law was tweaked to permit abortions if the mother’s life is at risk. The law also introduced a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment for having or assisting in an unlawful abortion.
Results of the referendum held to liberalise Ireland’s abortion laws.
Savita Halappanavar’s death
In 2013, the death of 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar triggered a massive citizen’s movement against Ireland’s abortion laws. Savita Halappanavar had died of sepsis at a hospital in Galway, having been repeatedly denied medical permission to abort her 17-week foetus because doctors were loathed to carry out an abortion when the foetal heartbeat could be heard.
The inquiry report into her death faulted the doctors for not recognising the gravity of Halappanavar’s spreading sepsis and said that that might have been due “to the way the law was interpreted in dealing with the case or the lack of appreciation of the increasing risk to the mother”. It also “strongly advised the clinical professional community, health and social care regulators… to consider the law, including any necessary constitutional change” to manage such emergencies. Following her death, people took to streets to call for immediate reforms in the country’s abortion laws.
Ireland compensates woman forced to travel outside for abortion, forms Citizen Assembly
In 2016, for the first time in its history, Ireland compensated a woman for the trauma caused to her due to travelling outside for an abortion. The woman, Amanda Mallet had approached the United Nations asking it to denounce the prohibition on abortions in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities as “cruel and inhumane”.
After this, the Ireland government established a public advisory body, a Citizen’s Assembly, which recommended the introduction of unrestricted access to abortion. In March this year, Irish Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy signs an order to set the date for an abortion referendum.
Supporters and critics of the referendum
Varadkar was one of the most popular supporters of the campaign. “I said in recent days that this was a once in a generation vote. Today I believe we have voted for the next generation,” he said. Varadkar is Ireland’s first openly gay leader as well as its first prime minister from an ethnic minority group.
“I feel very emotional,” Ireland’s Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone said. “I’m especially grateful to the women of Ireland who came forward to provide their personal testimony about the hard times that they endured, the stress and the trauma that they experienced because of the eighth amendment.”
“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.”
A woman from the “Yes” campaign reacts after the final result was announced in the Irish referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution at Dublin Castle, in Dublin, Ireland (AP Photo)
One of Ireland’s leading anti-abortion groups said that the abortion referendum result is a “tragedy of historic proportions.” Spokesman John McGuirk of the Save the 8th group _ which refers to the Eighth Amendment in the constitution that bans abortions _ told Irish television Saturday that many Irish citizens will not recognize the country they are waking up in.
What next?
The government plans to allow abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and in special cases after the first trimester. The new law will likely be formed by the end of this year and is expected to be named after Savita Halappanavar.
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