The overwhelming victory for the abortion rights campaign, which comes three years after voters backed legalizing same-sex marriage, marks the “culmination of a quiet revolution,” said Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who campaigned to overturn the ban.
The result reflects deep disillusionment with Catholic institutions and church influence on the government that follows years of scandals over abuse and the incarceration of women. It also indicates that Ireland can no longer be held up as the Catholic bastion it once was, a blow for the Vatican months before Pope Francis is due to visit the country in August.
The turnout — 64 percent — was unusually high for an Irish referendum, delivering the biggest mandate for a proposal since the Good Friday Agreement. Only one of Ireland’s 40 constituencies, Donegal, saw a majority vote against repeal. [...]
As many as 10 Irish women a day currently cross the Irish Sea for abortions, according to figures from the U.K.’s National Health Service, and an estimated three to five women a day take abortion pills obtained illegally online. [...]
In a poll conducted by Behaviour & Attitudes for RTÉ, around 72 percent of women voted to repeal and nearly 66 percent of men. The Yes vote was 72 percent in urban areas and 63 percent in rural sections.
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