Ireland set to repeal abortion ban by a landslide

DUBLIN: Ireland was set to liberalise some of Europe´s strictest abortion laws in a landslide referendum vote in this mainly Catholic country that Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called Saturday the “culmination of a quiet revolution”.

The proposal to repeal the constitutional ban on terminations was predicted to win by around a two-thirds majority, according to partial counts reported so far.

In Galway East, the first of 40 constituencies to declare a result, the vote was 60 percent in favour.

An exit poll of 4,000 voters for The Irish Times newspaper put the pro-choice camp ahead by 68 percent to 32 percent, while a second survey of 3,800 voters by national broadcaster RTE put the margin at 69 percent to 31 percent.

“What we´ve seen today is the culmination of a quiet revolution that has been taking place in Ireland for the past 10 or 20 years,” Varadkar told RTE.

“The people have said that we want a modern constitution for a modern country, that we trust women and that we respect them to make the right decisions and the right choices about their own healthcare.” Varadkar said he planned for a new law to allow abortions to be in place by the end of the year and Health Minister Simon Harris told AFP that the cabinet would meet on Tuesday to approve the drafting of legislation. The result looks set to be another hammer blow to the Roman Catholic Church´s authority in Ireland, coming three years after referendum voters backed legalising same-sex marriage by 62 percent.

Varadkar, Ireland´s first gay prime minister, came to power last year in what was seen as another major milestone for diversity in Ireland.

The Church´s influence has waned in recent years following a series of child sex abuse scandals.

The referendum comes three months before a visit by Pope Francis for the World Meeting of Families.

The Irish Times survey suggested women voted by 70 percent in favour of the proposal and men by 65 percent.

People over 65 voted 60 percent against repealing the current legislation, which only allows terminations in cases where the mother´s life is in danger.

However, all other age groups backed the proposal, with support at 87 percent among the youngest voters, aged 18 to 24.

- Counting under way - Counting was under way at 26 count centres, with the 40 constituencies to declare individual results before the full final declaration at Dublin Castle. Around 3.5 million people had the chance to vote.

With counting ongoing before the first constituency declaration, the official Together for Yes campaign to repeal the abortion ban said they had passed more than a million votes, and were running at 68 percent support.

Varadkar´s government has proposed that if the amendment is repealed, abortion will be allowed in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances. In Dublin, many voters welcomed the expected overwhelming result.