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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIreland Votes to Legalize Abortion in Blow to Catholic Conservatism
By Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura
May 26, 2018
DUBLIN Ireland voted decisively to repeal one of the worlds more restrictive abortion bans, the prime minister said Saturday, sweeping aside generations of conservative patriarchy and dealing the latest in a series of stinging rebukes to the Roman Catholic Church.
The surprising landslide cemented the nations liberal shift at a time when right-wing populism is on the rise in Europe and the Trump administration is imposing curbs on abortion rights in the United States. In the past three years alone, Ireland has installed a gay man as prime minister and has voted in another referendum to allow same-sex marriage. But this was a particularly wrenching issue for Irish voters, even for supporters of the measure. And it was not clear until the end that the momentum toward socially liberal policies would be powerful enough to sweep away the deeply ingrained opposition to abortion.
What we have seen today really is a culmination of a quiet revolution thats been taking place in Ireland for the past 10 or 20 years, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said at a counting center in Dublin hours before the results of Fridays vote were fully tallied.
This has been a great exercise in democracy, Mr. Varadkar said, and the people have spoken and the people have said: We want a modern constitution for a modern country, and that we trust women and that we respect them to make the right decisions and the rights choices about their own health care.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/26/world/europe/ireland-abortion-yes.html
bearsfootball516
(6,373 posts)shanny
(6,709 posts)(like American anti-abortion groups) and won anyway.
OnDoutside
(19,948 posts)2 to 1 victory is way more than we could have dreamed.
It's a great day for women, and a great day for Ireland.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Well done! Welcome to the 21st century! I am glad the Catholic church's influence is waning. It has caused nothing but harm in that country - and for the most part, all over the world.