{"id":164939,"date":"2018-05-25T17:17:26","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T21:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=164939"},"modified":"2018-05-25T17:17:26","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T21:17:26","slug":"ireland-referendum-could-lift-strict-ban-on-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/25\/ireland-referendum-could-lift-strict-ban-on-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland referendum could lift strict ban on abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The vote also is a key indicator of Ireland’s trajectory, three years after the country voted to allow same-sex marriages and a year after its first openly gay prime minister took office.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

DUBLIN \u2014 Ireland’s referendum Friday represented more than a vote on whether to end the country’s strict abortion ban. It was a battle for the very soul of a traditionally conservative Roman Catholic nation that has seen a wave of liberalization in recent years.<\/p>\n

The country’s leaders support a \u201cyes,\u201d an outcome that would repeal a 1983 constitutional amendment requiring authorities to treat a fetus and its mother as equals under the law. They called it a once-in-a-generation opportunity to liberalize some of Europe’s strictest abortion rules.<\/p>\n

Results of the referendum are expected on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Voters went to the polls after a campaign that aroused deep emotions on both sides. For advocates of repeal, a \u201cyes\u201d vote would be a landmark in Irish women’s fight for equality and the right to control their own bodies. For opponents, it would be a betrayal of\u00a0Ireland’s commitment to protect the unborn.<\/p>\n

The vote also is a key indicator of\u00a0Ireland’s trajectory, three years after the country voted to allow same-sex marriages and a year after its first openly gay prime minister took office.<\/p>\n

Theresa Sweeney, a repeal supporter, was one of the first to arrive at a church polling station in Dublin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I’ve waited all of my adult life to have a say on this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Emma Leahy said her \u201cyes\u201d vote comes from her firm belief that everyone should be able to make their own choice when it comes to abortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor\u00a0Ireland, it’s hope for the future,\u201d she said of the referendum. \u201cWhether you agree or disagree, it shouldn’t be the government or anyone else making that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vera Rooney voted against repeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a hard decision but I just feel I don’t have the right to take life,\u201d she said. \u201cI think life is sacred and for that reason I had to vote no.\u201d<\/p>\n

The referendum will decide whether the eighth amendment of the constitution is repealed or stays in place.<\/p>\n

The amendment requires authorities to equally protect the right to life of a mother and that of a fetus, from the moment of conception. That effectively bans all abortions in\u00a0Ireland, except in cases when the woman’s life is at risk. Having an illegal abortion is punishable by up to 14 years in prison, and several thousand Irish women travel each year to get abortions in neighbouring Britain.<\/p>\n

If citizens vote in favour of repeal, new abortion laws will then be discussed in parliament. The government proposes that terminations be allowed during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Later abortions would be allowed in special cases.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, a doctor, voted in favour of repeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot taking anything for granted of course, but quietly confident,\u201d he said, adding that the upside of a sunny day in\u00a0Ireland\u00a0is that people come out to vote.<\/p>\n

Thousands of Irish people abroad travelled home to take part in the historic referendum, and supporters of repeal gathered at Dublin Airport to give arrivals an ecstatic welcome.<\/p>\n

Some activists held a placard reading \u201cThank you for making the journey so other women don’t have to\u201d \u2014 a reference to the way Irish women seeking abortions have had to leave the country to obtain them.<\/p>\n

Tara Flynn, who 11 years ago flew to the Netherlands for an abortion, said she planned to vote \u201cyes\u201d to make sure future generations of women don’t endure what she did, with feelings of isolation and shame.<\/p>\n

She said her vote would be one for solidarity and compassion, \u201ca vote to say, I don’t send you away anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campaigning was not allowed Friday, but Dublin was still filled with signs and banners urging citizens to vote \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno.\u201d Many of the anti-abortion signs showed photographs of fetuses.<\/p>\n

Voting has already taken place on\u00a0Ireland’s remote islands so that paper ballots can be taken to the mainland and counted in time.<\/p>\n

Letters to the editor published Friday in the Irish Independent newspaper contained several emotional arguments urging voters to reject the repeal movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we vote ‘yes’ every unborn, wanted and unwanted, will have zero rights,\u201d wrote Frances Kelleher, from Killarney. \u201cI do not believe the smart people of\u00a0Ireland\u00a0want this unrestricted, abortion-on-demand bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DUBLIN \u2014 Ireland’s referendum Friday represented more than a vote on whether to end the country’s strict abortion ban. It …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":51532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[1626,5792],"class_list":["post-164939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","tag-abortion","tag-ireland","mauthors-gregory-katz","mauthors-renata-brito","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}