In October 2012, 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar died in a hospital in Ireland. She had sepsis after a protracted miscarriage and needed an immediate medical termination of her pregnancy. However, doctors would not carry out an abortion, which is banned by law in the European nation. Nearly six years later, the Catholic country is set to dump the ban, with over 66 per cent of its people voting to scrap the present anti-abortion laws.

The laws, known as the Eighth Amendment among locals, virtually ban abortions in the country.

Hours before that landmark vote, a mural dedicated to her memory came up in capital Dublin where people left flowers and messages for Savita. “Sorry, we were too late for you. But we are here now. We didn’t forget you,” said one of the messages.

The inquest into Savita’s death, which triggered a debate across the country, had returned a verdict of medical misadventure. Savita’s husband Praveen Halappanavar had told her inquest that she was refused a termination of her pregnancy because the baby’s heart was still beating. A midwife manager at the Galway University Hospital also confirmed that she told Savita Halappanavar a termination could not be carried out because Ireland was a Catholic country.

While the debate over the issue of life-saving abortions resulted in a new law in July 2013, allowing medical termination of pregnancies under extreme circumstances such as medical emergencies and risk of suicide, many still wanted the Eighth Amendment repealed as it continued to prohibit terminations in cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality too.

The turnout for Friday’s historic referendum was one of the highest in any referendums ever held in Ireland. In fact, the Eighth Amendment had also been introduced via a referendum in 1983.

Announcing the final results of the referendum on Saturday, a returning officer said a total of 66.4 per cent voters favoured scrapping of the anti-abortion laws, while 33.6 per cent chose to retain the ban.

Conceding defeat, Ireland’s pro-life “Save The 8th” campaign said: “What Irish voters did yesterday is a tragedy of historic proportions… However, a wrong does not become right simply because a majority support it.”

Nearly 3.37 million voters had registered for the referendum, and 64.1 per cent turned out for the voting. Nearly 6,000 votes were declared invalid, said the returning officer. Thousands of Irish people living overseas had come home to vote.

Returning officer Barry Ryan declared the results in front of a large cheering crowd that had gathered at a central count centre at Dublin Castle, a main government complex in Dublin.

Ireland’s Indian-origin Prime Minister Leo Varadkar hailed his country’s “quiet revolution”.

“The people have spoken. They have said we need a modern Constitution for a modern country,” Varadkar said, after exit polls suggested a landslide vote in favour of overturning the law.

“Today, we made history,” he tweeted later.

While Irish people have for long wanted the ban to go, a ‘Yes’ campaign to liberalise abortion gathered momentum only after Savita’s death in 2012. Refused an abortion that could save her life, Savita became the symbolic image for the struggle.

Varadkar too had campaigned in favour of liberalization. “What we’ve seen is the culmination of a quiet revolution that’s been taking place in Ireland over the past 20 years,” he said.

Irish voters “trust and respect women to make the right choices and decisions about their own health care”, he added.

Varadkar said he hoped to have a new abortion law enacted by the end of 2018.

In Karnataka’s Belgaum, a 72-year-old man felt relieved on Saturday. Andanappa Yalagi is the father of Savita Halappanavar.

“At last, we have got justice. Finally, I feel Ireland is paying tribute to her departed soul. Her death has not been in vain. I am proud of my daughter,” he told The Indian Express after the news of the outcome of the vote reached him.

In a video message recorded ahead of the referendum, Yalagi had appealed to the Irish people to remember his daughter when they vote for or against the anti-abortion laws. He had kept in touch with journalists and Savita’s friends in Ireland who were part of the “Yes” campaign.

(With agencies)