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Irish Exit Poll Ends the Country’s Abortion Ban with Astounding Yes Votes!

In a historic exit poll, Ireland voted Yes by a landslide margin to end the restrictive abortion ban, opening up more opportunities for women to exercise their rights and ownership of their bodies.

Repealing the Eighth Amendment

The Amendment was approved by referendum last September 7, 1983, and was signed into law a month later.

The Eighth Amendment to the Irish constitution recognizes the equal rights to life of the pregnant woman and her unborn child. Abortion has been seen as a criminal offense and has been penalized since 1861 in Ireland.

The said amendment ensures conditional abortion may only be deemed allowable in circumstances where the expectant mother’s life is at risk. At that time, the abortion ban was supported by more than 68% of the population. In order to reverse the said ban, the referendum vote must achieve the same percentage in favor of yes. And yet the RTE exit poll predicted that the YES campaign lead will yield a slightly higher result, at 69.4%.

Ending the Abortion Ban

If we follow the Yes campaigns’ prediction, this only shows how Ireland voted to repeal the 8th Amendment and end the abortion ban, 35 years later since it was first introduced. One supporter of the said campaign named Taoiseach Leo Varadkar stated how they’re looking forward to making a history. It’s about high time to liberalize Ireland’s restrictive abortion laws.

The counting of the exit poll votes on Saturday at 9 am. The official result will be announced in the afternoon of the same day.

Another young woman living in Dublin’s Temple Bar stated the exit poll result was everything they ever wanted. The Irish women want to exercise their rights and ownership of their own bodies. They wanted to feel loved, and wanted.

The Exit Poll

The Ipsos/MRBI survey interviewed around 4,000 voters in over 160 polling stations. The Irish Times newspaper revealed that the margin of error for the survey was around 1.5%. The exit poll result was released at 10 pm. It was such an emotional day for the Irish citizens as they traveled home to exercise their voting rights.

A 54-year-old woman named Dave Seacy stated that the massive support of Yes vote really came out this time. It was the first time she saw how the Irish overseas flew from New York to Ireland just to vote, and how it was the right thing to do for the nation to move forward.

The Irish capital’s center was fully crowded with people wearing Yes stickers, despite the throngs of pub drinkers and hen nights around

The opposition got it wrong this time since the Irish people voted for their choice. The 28-year-old woman named Sophie Hughes said that she’s happy many young people voted for their rights. The closer they get to vote, the more it will spread awareness when people talk about it. Almost 77% of voters in the Irish capital choose Yes according to the Ipsos/MRBI poll. Around 87% of young people between 18-25 years old voted for yes, while 83% of women around 25-34 years old.

#TogetherForYes

If the same results are obtained in the actual voting, the Irish government can legislate the said campaign in the second half of the year. Once it is passed as a law, it’ll be easy for women to opt for abortion during the early stages of their pregnancy.

This will be the second historic law the Irish government will pass following the same-gender marriage equality in 2015. The said votation yielded 62%, and the Irish citizens are confident they will surpass the said percentage when it comes to ending the abortion ban.

Varadkar thanked everyone who voted for yes in the said exit poll. And this only shows that democracy is indeed in action. Meanwhile, Simon Harris, the Irish Health Minister tweeted that he hopes to wake up to a changed Ireland. To a country that is more caring, compassionate, and respectful of the rights and dignity of women. He also said that it was an honor to be part of this journey, as well as to work #TogetherforYes.

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