Another prevalent focus of campaign efforts was individual personal contact with voters. In the final weeks before the vote, thousands of volunteers took to streets, neighborhoods, and public transportation stations throughout the country. The debate over repeal followed some lines that would be familiar to Americans, and some that were more specific to the Irish experience. The “No” campaign focused not only on familiar and powerful arguments about the sanctity of life and the importance of compassion for the unborn child, but also on how Ireland should avoid the path chosen by the United Kingdom, whose laws regarding abortion are among the most permissive in Europe.

The campaign to repeal, meanwhile, highlighted the personal stories of women facing difficult situations, often called the “tough” cases, including those involving fatal fetal abnormalities. Repeal supporters also linked the vote to the practices and hard realities of the past in Ireland, casting repeal of the Eighth as both a corrective and a step forward on the progressive path of a contemporary Ireland catching up with the rest of Europe. An interesting subtext was the construal of Ireland as a nation that is maturing, and now able to make its own decisions. The implication was that the policies of past eras were the product of prevailing authorities; decisions were made for citizens and not by them (and particularly not by women), with appeals to authority serving as the only grounds for policy. The casting of the vote on the Eighth as signifying something much more than one issue—a vote, in effect, to unwind the past—was plainly part of the repeal campaign’s strategy, and personal stories became a way to anchor the effort. Exit polls suggest that the storytelling was effective; 43 percent of voters indicated that personal stories covered in the media influenced their decision, and 34 percent indicated that they were influenced by the experiences of people they knew.

According to the exit polls, support for repeal was widespread across virtually all socio-economic categories and demographics. The only age group not supporting repeal were those sixty-five or older, with 59 percent of these voters choosing to retain the prohibition. Repeal was strongest among the youngest cohort, with 88 percent of those eighteen to twenty-four supporting repeal. Support for repeal was higher among women, but still enjoyed strong majority support among men. The expected rural and urban divide failed to materialize, with 63 percent of rural voters supporting repeal, compared to 72 percent in urban areas. Ireland’s population distribution is increasingly dominated by its urban core in the greater Dublin area, whose population equals that of the next forty cities combined. Irish citizens for many years have perceived a growing divide in social and political terms between the capital and the rest of the country. But on this issue, the division turned out not to be the vast chasm many had supposed. Only Donegal, the largely rural northwestern edge of the Republic of Ireland, voted “No” at the county level, 52 percent to 48 percent.

Beyond age, sex, and the urban-rural divide, lower levels of church attendance correlated with support for repeal. With the one exception of Fianna Fáil identifiers (whose supporters were split evenly, despite the fact that their elected members in parliament mostly opposed repeal), those who identify as supporters of the other major political parties, and those of virtually all minor parties, supported repeal. The kind of clear party division so ingrained in modern American politics over abortion was not reflected in Ireland.

In the aftermath of the referendum, Ireland’s abortion policy is now likely to resemble that of many other Western European countries. This result may obscure the reality of public opinion in Ireland, however. The campaigns involved in referenda, especially on issues as contentious as abortion, can cloud difficult elements of the debate. Referenda, after all, assay voters within the framework of a binary choice—a choice that may neither best nor most accurately reflect the will of the people. This dynamic was on display in the battle over the Eighth. The repeal side often focused on the “tough” or high-profile tragedies; abortion on demand, including for reasons of convenience, was not usually the focus of the personal narratives that were employed—even though it is likely to be a common reason for termination of a pregnancy. Campaign pitches on the retain side, meanwhile, largely avoided the “tough” cases. And yet exit polls reveal that many voters desire a policy situated precisely in that murky middle—one that addresses the tough cases without going too far down the path of abortion on demand for mere convenience.

Whatever abortion policy emerges from the debates in the Irish parliament this summer, it will contain some element of compromise. After all, the historic vote on the Eighth didn’t explicitly adopt a policy; the referendum was not designed to deliver one. Rather, it served as an opportunity for the voters to directly and explicitly voice their view of change to the status quo. As such it represented a direct democratic moment for the people of Ireland. While many I spoke with lamented some of the tone and tactics of the opposing sides, from an outsider’s perspective the campaign was spirited and respectful. Given the atmosphere of American politics right now, that’s not something I’m sure I would be able to say, were such a referendum to take place in the United States.