Ireland to hold dramatic referendum on abortion. (It's currently illegal there.)

Ireland will hold a referendum on its restrictive abortion laws at the end of May.

The exact date will be announced when the debates in parliament come to an end. Currently, abortion is illegal in the Irish Republic even in cases of rape and incest. Terminations are only allowed when the life of the mother is at risk and the maximum penalty for accessing an illegal abortion is 14 years in prison.

Voters will be asked if they wish to repeal the eighth amendment of the constitution that was inserted in 1983 and which enshrined the equal right to life of the mother and her unborn child, and to instead enable parliament to set the laws.

Last December, a report by a specially convened Oireachtas committee found that the eighth amendment was not fit for purpose and should be repealed. That followed recommendations from members of Irelands Citizens Assembly to liberalise the law on terminations

The committee also recommended abortion be available up to 12 weeks of pregnancy without a woman having to explain her decision, and that the procedure should be allowed if the life or health of the woman was at risk.

It also called for expectant mothers to be allowed an abortion at any stage of the pregnancy if doctors diagnosed a foetal abnormality that was likely to result in death before or shortly after birth.

The Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said on Saturday that he will campaign for the law to be relaxed around the issue,and that his pro-life beliefs had evolved since 2014. He said: I think sometimes that term pro-life and pro-choice can be misunderstood.

I think even people who are in favour of abortion in certain circumstances are pro-life, I still believe in life, but I understand that there circumstances under which pregnancies cant continue.

Over 170,000 Irish women have been estimated to have traveled to the UK to access abortion services. Recent opinion surveys suggest there is huge public support for moderating the laws so that women could have abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

In response to an Irish Times/MRBI poll asking Will you vote to change the constitution so that the government can legislate for abortion up to 12 weeks, or will you vote to not change the constitution? 56 per cent voted in favour, 29 per cent said they would vote against and 15 per cent did not know or offered no opinion.

When asked if their opinion had changed in the last year, 19 per cent said they were now more open to the idea.

Full Article: http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/29/ireland-to-hold-referendum-on-abortion-laws-at-the-end-of-may-7271326/



It's interesting that Ireland has (Or use to have) a reputation for being right-wing and Catholic yet it was one of the first nations to legalize gay marriage. Now it's looking like it will allow abortions as well.

For a long time Irish people went to England to get abortions as it is legal there. And that was quietly accepted as the solution, which seems silly.

Ireland has had a huge 180 in attitude within two generations. It's interesting to watch how a culture can change so rapidly due to the intergration of modern technology. Long accepted ideals are being challenged because men in Ireland heard questions people outside of Ireland were asking that they never thought about before.

I think this is why China and Saudi Arabia and North Korea have such strict censorship.

I guess CE has no opinion on this.

Not surprised, I think there are more Polish users on CE than Irish

UnfairRepresent posted...

first nations to legalize gay marriage

By referendum*

Anyway I don't like how it's being restricted to 12 weeks out of some deep-seated need to feel like things should be 'balanced'. Just let people get abortions without restriction.