Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called the vote “the culmination of a quiet revolution” in Ireland.
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Ireland voted to repeal a constitutional ban on abortion on Saturday in a move signaling the predominately Catholic country’s movement toward more left-leaning politics.
More than 66 percent of voters chose to overturn Ireland’s Eighth Amendment, established in 1983, which banned abortion by upholding an unborn child’s right to life, according to NBC News .
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar supported the change, calling the vote to repeal the ban “the culmination of a quiet revolution that has been taking place in Ireland over the last couple of decades.”
The vote comes three years after Ireland became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote, another move that Varadkar, who is gay, supported.
Siobhan Donohue, chairwoman for Termination for Medical Reasons (TFMR), an abortion rights group, said the vote is a relief for women who previously had to travel to Britain to get an abortion.
“There was a lot of worry and a lot of concern over if it didn’t pass, what would happen,” Donohue told NBC News. “Having shared our stories and shared our experiences, if people had voted ‘no’ what would that have meant for us?”
Donohue stressed that the fight for abortion rights isn’t over, as it’s now up to Parliament to determine the legislation governing abortion in Ireland.
But not everyone was happy about the decision, as many conservative activists decried the vote as a massive setback.
Orla Halpenny, a spokesperson for the pro-life group Doctors for Life, said the vote was “disappointing” and explained that she’s now focused on ensuring doctors are given the right to conscientious objection, granting them permission to refuse to refer patients to abortion providers on moral grounds.
“All medical pro-life groups are needed now more than ever,” Halpenny said.
In the wake of the results of the vote, Varadkar said Irish laws would likely be changed by the end of the year. The government proposed to change the law to allow abortions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, with the possibility of later abortions in special circumstances.
The referendum came after passionate campaigns on both sides of the issue, with many Irish expatriates traveling home to cast their ballots.
But the debate over the issue is now expected to move to Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom and still has strong restrictions on abortion.
Aaron Credeur is a News Fellow at IJR. He has written on a variety of national topics, including the 2016 presidential election, the state of liberal… more
