By Andrew Bushe
DUBLIN — The Irish government’s proposals to tighten the nation’s already strict laws on abortion were narrowly defeated in last Wednesday’s referendum.
Only 43 percent of eligible voters turned out to vote to consider rolling back the 1992 landmark Supreme Court ruling that said that the threat of suicide was grounds for abortion. In the so-called X-case, a pregnant 14-year-old was allowed to seek abortion after it was determined that she had become suicidal.
Ireland has long had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. It is believed that thousands of Irish women seek abortion in Britain each year, an exodus that was unlikely regardless of the outcome of last week’s vote.
The no vote last week was 629,041 (50.4 percent), and the yes was 618,485 throughout the 41 constituencies. In the confusing and contentious run-up to the vote, an unlikely coalition of conservative and liberals worked to defeat the referendum. Conservatives, despite support for the bill from the Catholic church, said it didn’t go far enough in preventing abortions, while liberals said it went to far in restricting them.
The result revealed a huge urban-rural divide in the country, with a substantial 100,000 no votes overall in the key Dublin constituencies being a crucial factor in the result.
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Throughout the country the big cities voted no, while there were some substantial yes vote majorities in rural constituencies.
It is the second time the country has rejected proposals to roll back on the suicide ruling. In 1992, a referendum to restrict abortion was defeated by 65.4 percent.
In a statement outside Government Buildings in Dublin, a disappointed taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, conceded defeated before the final result was declared.
“The people have now had their say in the most democratic way and their view must be respected,” he said. “Their decision presents some challenges for us as legislators, which I personally hope we can work to address.”
In the taoiseach’s own four-seat Dublin Central constituency, the turnout was almost 40 percent but voters went against his proposals by almost 59 percent.
Ministers have been distancing themselves for any political fallout, emphasizing that the vote was a private, religious, moral and ethical matter with different views within political parties.
This was the second referendum defeat for Fianna Fail, following last year’s Nice Treaty setback.
The result is being compared to a 1995 constitutional plebiscite on divorce. At that time, on a 62.2 percent turnout, the country agreed to allow divorce by a narrow 50.3 percent majority.
The highest vote for the government proposals was in the three-seat Donegal North-West constituency, where conservative Independent TD Harry Blaney had been strongly pressing for an abortion referendum as part of his price for supporting the government.
On a low turnout of almost 34 percent, his constituency voted yes by almost 71 percent.
The highest no vote against the government’s proposals was in the liberal five-seat Dun Laoghaire constituency, where the turnout was 53 percent and the rejection majority was 68 percent.