DUBLIN — Ireland’s abortion rights campaigners have spent months arguing that women should have a choice — but it's men who could hold the key to winning this month's referendum.

Ahead of the May 25 referendum, surveys show a majority of young women are ready to vote to repeal the country’s abortion ban. But the polls are narrowing as growing ranks of the Irish say they might not vote.

Many socially liberal men say it isn’t their place to decide whether a mother and her unborn child should have equal right to life, as enshrined in the eighth amendment to Ireland’s constitution.

That's because the repeal side's message is backfiring, say anti-abortion campaigners.

“They have essentially been telling male voters and older voters consistently … that the only people to whom this referendum is relevant are women of child-bearing age,” said John McGuirk, a spokesman for the anti-abortion campaign Save the 8th. “And the problem is that lot of those voters have taken them to heart and said, ‘Okay, you don't want us involved.’”

Rugby players and sports broadcasters were last month drafted in to get men talking about sensitive questions of women’s health and morality.

The latest Irish Times-Ipsos MRBI poll, out May 17, shows 44 percent support for repealing the amendment versus 32 percent to keep the ban, with support for the anti-abortion campaign having grown in recent weeks. Crucially, almost a quarter of the electorate say they remain undecided or likely won’t vote.

As Yes campaigners grow increasingly nervous after years of pushing for change, rugby players and sports broadcasters were last month drafted in to get men talking about sensitive questions of women’s health and morality.

“The 8th Amendment is getting in the way of a more compassionate Ireland, where women have the choice to get the care they need, and make the decisions they need to make," former rugby star Gordon D’Arcy tweeted at the launch of the #Men4Yes campaign. Boxer Andy Lee and commentators Richie Sadlier, Kevin McGahern and Con Murphy joined D’Arcy in a goofball photoshoot to back repealing the eighth.

But pro-life groups beat them to the punch with a campaign featuring high-profile figures from the beloved Gaelic Athletic Association for traditional Irish sports (hurling and Gaelic football).

“It’s not really up to men to vote, but it’s something that affected me” — Alex Kane, 24

In an interview with the Irish Times, former Gaelic football manager Mickey Harte said he was supporting the "GAA Athletes for a No Vote" campaign because “to me it’s a straight vote between a culture of death and a culture of life.”

Noel Healy, 82, is one of the voters the #Men4Yes campaign hopes to convince to head to the ballot box.

He said he supports abortion rights, but thinks only women should vote in the referendum. “Men can’t get abortions,” Healy said.

Alex Kane, 24, has no such ambivalence. “It’s not really up to men to vote, but it’s something that affected me,” Kane said, noting that he became a father at 16. He said he’ll be voting to repeal.

But faced with competing campaigns, men may be getting mixed signals. “My parents are dragging me towards no, my sisters are dragging me towards yes,” said Matthew Nolan, 26, noting that his mother is a nurse of deep Catholic faith. Interviewed on a Dublin street corner, he said he’s leaning toward yes, but added, “To be honest, I don’t think I’ll vote because I don’t know which way to go for.”

Both sides are keeping a close eye on the polls and both will be hoping they have the most success in turning out the male vote on Friday.

“We're pretty confident that pro-life men will not sit the referendum out,” said Save the 8th’s McGuirk.