Irish voters yesterday headed to the polls to vote in a landmark referendum on whether the country should liberalize some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe.
The campaign has dominated public debate in Ireland over that past few months and has forced its nearly 3.5 million voters to decide if the constitutional ban on abortion should stay.
Opinion polls have suggested the result could be close, with large numbers of undecided voters hanging in the balance.
Ireland was traditionally one of the most staunchly Roman Catholic countries in Europe. However, the church’s influence has waned in recent years following a series of child sex abuse scandals.
The referendum comes three years after Ireland voted to legalize same-sex marriage, in a seismic change for the EU nation.
Voters were to have from 7am until 10pm yesterday to cast their ballots.
The count is to begin at 9am today, with the result expected to be announced at Dublin Castle later in the day.
Voters on 12 remote islands in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday went to the polls a day early to ensure the ballot boxes could be shipped or flown to counting centers on the mainland in case of poor weather.
After voters on Gola — total electorate 29 — off the Donegal northwest coast cast their ballots, the sealed ballot box was taken back to the mainland on a 10-minute ferry ride by a policeman and an election official.
The Eighth Amendment to the Irish constitution was installed following a 1983 referendum, which approved outlawing abortion.
Subsequent legislation ruled that anyone having an abortion could face up to 14 years in jail.
The ban has led to thousands of women traveling each year to neighboring Britain, where terminations are legal, or increasingly turning to abortion pills sold online.
The law was tweaked in 2013 to allow terminations if the mother’s life is at risk, following the death of Savita Halappanavar, a pregnant woman originally from India who was refused an abortion.
The Irish government has proposed that if the Eighth Amendment is repealed, abortion would be allowed up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.
Activists were out on a final push for votes on Thursday, attempting to convince wavering voters in what has been an emotionally charged campaign.
City streets were filled with people wearing campaign badges, stickers and tops.
Caoimhe Mulcahy, 27, an actor from County Clare in western Ireland, said it was a question of women’s health and many had “really suffered” with unregulated, unsafe and illegal abortions.
“There isn’t one easy solution, but people are suffering and we need to change it,” she said.
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