Ireland’s vote for choice

Ireland’s vote for choice

News:

1. In recent referendum, 66.4% of Ireland voters voted to repeal the constitutional block on abortions.

Important facts

1. Abortion in Ireland is prohibited according to eighth amendment introduced in 1983.
2. It grants an unborn child and the woman carrying it an equal right to life.
3. In 2013,  abortions in Ireland have been only permitted when the life of the woman is at risk, including from suicide.
4. This 2013 exception comes after the death of Savita Halappanavar. She died of sepsis in a hospital after being denied an abortion while miscarrying at 17 weeks because Ireland was a Catholic country.
5. But there were still no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, or when the foetus had a fatal abnormality.
6. Ireland now plans to introduce legislation:

• To allow for relatively unrestricted abortions up until 12 weeks of pregnancy,
• To allow abortions between 12 and 24 weeks when there are fatal foetal abnormalities or risk to the life of the mother or serious harm to her and
• Beyond 24 weeks, abortions would be permitted when there are fatal abnormalities.

7. Ireland has been gradually making progress to separate Church and State and adopting more open social attitudes such as:

• Legalizing same-sex marriage in 2015
• Electing the first openly gay Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar on 2017.

8. The decision is especially significant because the democratic world has made a noticeable shift to the right (conservatism).

9. It can be exemplified by  Brexit, the rise of Donald Trump in the U.S., and right-wing populism in continental Europe.