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Abortion ban repealed

UPDATE: 12:30 p.m.

Irish voters cleared the way for abortions to be legal in their country for the first time by repealing a constitutional ban on the procedure and authorizing legislators to reflect the popular will by giving pregnant women a choice, results from a landmark referendum showed Saturday.

Voters in Friday's referendum supported rescinding the ban, adopted in 1983 as the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, by 66.4 per cent to 33.6 per cent, the final count showed. The size of the win for abortion rights exceeded expectations and was cast as a historic victory for women's rights.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, speaking after the official tally was announced at crowded Dublin Castle, hailed the momentous outcome as a "once in a generation vote" that showed the electorate's concern "for the next generation."

"The wrenching pain of decades of mistreatment of Irish women cannot be unlived," Varadkar, who backed repeal, said. "However, today we have ensured that it does not have to be lived again."

Opponents of the repeal movement conceded defeat on Saturday morning after exit polls from the night before suggested more than two-thirds of voters had backed repeal.


ORIGINAL: 10:20 a.m.

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 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."

If the partial results hold up, the referendum would likely end the need for thousands of Irish women to travel abroad — mostly to neighbouring Britain — for abortions they can't get at home.

The mood was jubilant at Dublin's Intercontinental hotel, where the Together For Yes group was celebrating its apparent victory.

Some supporters had tears of joy running down their cheeks, and many women hugged each other. Cheers erupted every time partial results were shown on two big screens transmitting the latest television news.

Opponents of the repeal movement have conceded they have no chance of victory.

John McGuirk, spokesman for the Save the 8th group, told Irish television Saturday that many Irish citizens will not recognize the country they are waking up in. The group said on its website that Irish voters have created a "tragedy of historic proportions," but McGuirk said the vote must be respected.

"You can still passionately believe that the decision of the people is wrong, as I happen to do, and accept it," he said.

Official counting for Friday's referendum on whether or not to liberalize Ireland's abortion laws was still underway, and final results were not expected until later Saturday. More than half of the country's 40 regions had been counted by 4:00 p.m. and showed 68 per cent supporting the amendment's repeal.



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