Since 1983, Ireland has had some of the harshest reproductive rights laws in the Western world. On Friday, voters came from far and wide to change that. Just moments ago, the Irish government confirmed what exit polls predicted: the Constitutional ban on abortion is no longer. It’s expected that new laws will permit the procedure until at least 12 weeks.
Ireland has repealed the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution by an overwhelming majority.
The news was formally announced at Dublin Castle on Saturday evening. Crowds had gathered in the castle’s main square ahead of the declaration.
Activists have been fighting the Eighth since its creation, but it was the completely unnecessary and preventable 2012 death of dentist Savita Halappanavar that proved to be the catalyst to finally force the change.
Halappanavar was admitted to University hospital in Galway on 21 October 2012, when she was 17 weeks pregnant with her first child. Medical staff concluded that a miscarriage was inevitable but did not intervene – despite requests from Halappanavar and her husband for an abortion – as a foetal heartbeat could be detected.
A few days later, medics diagnosed infection as a result of ruptured membranes and, later septic shock. Halappanavar died on 28 October.
Praveen Halappanavar said he and his wife had repeatedly asked for the pregnancy to be terminated after her admission to hospital, but they had been told: “This is a Catholic country.”
Thousands of people took part in candlelit vigils and protests across Ireland, calling for changes to allow women to have access to legal abortions. An inquest jury returned a unanimous verdict of medical misadventure.
The vote confirms the ever-lessening influence of the Roman Catholic Church on the nation.
The proportion of the population declaring themselves to be Catholic has been falling since 1961, but accelerated over the five years to 2016. According to the census for that year, 78.3% of the population were Catholic, compared with 93.1% in 1981, the last census before the ban on abortion was introduced.
In 1980, the sale of contraceptives was legalized, followed in 1993 by the decriminalization of gay activity and the removal of a constitutional ban on divorce in a 1995 referendum. In 2015, voters approved same-sex marriage.
Irish expats returned home in droves to make their voice heard in the fight for reproductive rights. The #HomeToVote feed on Twitter is fodder for happy ugly crying, if you’re into such things.
These folks traveled hard and fast to make their voice heard. That’s how important this issue is.
This tale of an Irish woman in Germany is a daymaker.
It wasn’t just women who believe in the right to choose, either.
Though exit polls show mostly older people were the ones who voted to keep the ban in place, people of all generations stepped up for reproductive rights.
And for some people, just getting out of bed on Voting Day was a challenge, but they did it anyway.
There’s a lesson to be learned from all of this as November looms, dear readers. The power to be the change we want in the world is within us all.
This Gaelic translation was fueled by Google and is probably awful, but all the same, it’s a joy to say, officially, Comhghairdeas leat, a Éireann! (Congratulations, Ireland!)