Abortion rights activists proclaimed victory for Irish women 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 liberalize 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…
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