World watches as Ireland holds historic vote that could overturn strict abortion law

Kim Hjelmgaard | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Ireland will vote to overturn abortion ban Ireland remains one of the last countries in Europe where abortion is still illegal.

DUBLIN — Prime Minister Leo Varadkar urged people voting Friday in Ireland's abortion referendum to remove the country's "legacy of shame" toward women by overturning the strict abortion law that fiercely divides this Catholic nation.

"If we don't remove the (Eighth) Amendment from the constitution, our doctors and lawmakers can't do anything for women. They can't do anything for women who have been raped, who are children themselves or who have been given the heartbreaking news of fatal fetal abnormality," Varadkar said.

The vote was expected to be an extremely close contest, with polls closing at 10 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET). The result of the highly controversial issue is expected Saturday afternoon.

But the Irish Times predicted that voters, 68% to 32%, backed repealing Ireland’s Eighth Amendment that affords a fetus the same protections as the woman.

The exit poll by the Irish Times was conducted by Ipsos/MRBI among 4,000 respondents at 160 polling stations in 158 Irish constituencies.

A second exit poll published Friday on Ireland’s abortion referendum, this time by the nation’s state broadcaster, showed that voters who support women’s abortion rights won a landslide victory.

RTÉ, which commissioned the poll in association with several Irish universities, found that Irish voters 69.4% to 30.6% want the country to change its constitution so that abortion is legal up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Both polls, from RTÉ and the Irish Times newspaper, indicated a far wider margin of victory for the “Yes” side than forecast in the run up to the vote after a long and divisive campaign.

Support to overturn Ireland’s Eighth Amendment was driven by large numbers of younger voters, according to the exit polls.

Fully legalized abortion is perhaps the last significant cultural taboo that Catholic-majority Ireland has grappled with following earlier votes on contraception, divorce, homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

The vote count begins on Saturday morning, with an official result expected in the early afternoon, although it could come later if turnout is especially high.

About 3.3 million people are registered to vote.

Ireland has held six referendums on various issues over the last decade.

The last one was in 2015, on same-sex marriage. Voters endorsed it.

Fine weather over much of the country, including the capital Dublin, helped feed the high turnout.

Currently, abortion is only allowed in Ireland if a women's life is at risk. A "Yes" vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment, which states that a fetus has an equal right to life as the woman, would mean that Irish women would be able to get an abortion at up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

It would be a major step for a country where almost 80% of the population still strongly identify as Catholic.

An average of nine women travel every day from Ireland to the United Kingdom, where abortion is legal, to terminate pregnancies, according to the Irish government. Three women each day take abortion pills bought online, risking a 14-year jail sentence.

"If the referendum doesn't pass, these women will continue to have to travel abroad in their thousands," Varadkar said.

John McGuirk, a prominent Irish abortion rights opponent, noted that Friday is an international missing children's day.

"In the U.K., 8 million children have gone missing since the abortion law was introduced. I hope Ireland will not make the same mistake today," McGuirk said.

Save The 8th, an organization that opposes abortion, sent an email Friday morning to supporters and media targeted at undecided voters. "Abortion does one thing, and one thing only — it kills a baby," it said.

In Dublin, "Yes" campaigners handed out stickers at major pedestrian crossroads. And many people who voted on their way to work wore "I voted" buttons.

More: Both sides in Irish landmark abortion vote make final pleas to voters

More: Ireland to be tested by abortion vote on whether to overturn near-total ban

The major newspapers carried "letters to the editor" from concerned citizens.

"If we vote 'Yes,' every unborn, wanted and unwanted, will have zero rights," wrote Frances Kelleher, from Killarney, in the Irish Independent. "I do not believe the smart people of Ireland want this unrestricted, abortion-on-demand bill. I will be voting 'No.' "

If the vote passes it would be another social-change milestone for Ireland after it legalized contraception (1979), divorce (1995) and same-sex marriage (2015).

It would also leave just three places in Europe where abortion is illegal unless a woman’s life is at risk: the micro-states of Andorra and San Marino, and Malta.

In the United States, President Trump plans to cut funding to family-planning clinics that offer abortion services. He has also vowed to appoint enough Supreme Court justices who oppose abortion to overturn Roe v. Wade, the abortion rights decision from 1973.

Thousands of Irish nationals traveled home to cast their vote in Friday's referendum. Their stories, and journeys, have been filling up social media platforms using the #hometovote hashtag.

"No flights left from London, so I have a 4 hour train, 4 hour wait and 3 hour ferry to make it home to vote- which is a walk in the park in comparison to the journey that Irish women are making every day to the UK," @MichelleMarleyy wrote.

Liam Dunne, 63, a farmer who lives south of Dublin and supports a woman's right to abortion, said he was confident his side would prevail. He believes that abortion should be a personal decision and not up to the government to decide.

"The way it is now, it's a bit like in America where sometimes there's nothing to prevent your neighbor from buying a gun. It leaves you feeling a little bit powerless," he said.