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posted by janrinok on Tuesday May 29 2018, @07:40PM   Printer-friendly
from the generational-attitude-shift dept.

Al Jazeera reports

Polls have closed in an Irish referendum on abortion that could represent a change in the path of a country that was once one of Europe's more socially conservative.

Voters turned out in large numbers on [May 25] to have their say on whether to repeal the country's Eighth Amendment, which outlaws abortion by giving equal rights to the unborn.

An exit poll, conducted for the Irish Times by Ipsos/MRBI, suggested that the country voted by a landslide margin to change the constitution so that abortion can be legalised.

The vote to repeal the constitutional ban was predicted to win by 68 percent to 32 percent, according to the poll of 4,000 voters, the Irish Times said.

[...] If the proposal to repeal the Eighth Amendment is defeated on [May 25], the country will not have a second referendum and it could be another 35 years before voters have their say on the matter again, [Prime Minister Leo] Varadkar said.

[...] 78 percent of the Irish population is Catholic

[...] Thousands of people living abroad returned home to vote. Ireland is one of the few countries in the European Union that does not allow those abroad to vote via post or in embassies.

Those away for less than 18 months remain eligible to vote at their former local polling station. Those living on the Atlantic islands cast their ballot a day early to help prevent delays in transportation and counting the ballot papers.

When the constitutional amendment to instate the ban was voted on in 1983, 66.9 percent voted "yes," and 33.1 percent voted "no".

Widely reported, including:


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday May 29 2018, @10:43PM (3 children)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday May 29 2018, @10:43PM (#685968)

    Are you suggesting Mussolini's view? "Everything in the State; nothing outside the State."

    Why does everything in the US have to devolve into a binary "either this or that" argument.

    You might not be aware, but there are millions of people all around the world that live in neither a Libertarian paradise nor a Totalitarian hell.

    Those of us in the civilised world tend to have no trouble making compromises and living happily with the results.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 29 2018, @10:54PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 29 2018, @10:54PM (#685977)

    How much should be in the State?

    What are the objective criteria, set in advance, for choosing? It's not enough to say "Let the public vote on it", or whatever; history is replete with examples of The Will of the People yielding again and again monstrous squanderings of societal resources, if not downright Totalitarian nightmares.

    The Founders of America realized this, and tried to set such criteria by means of the Constitution. Well, a mere 200 years later, and their attempt at small, non-intrusive, representative government has become yet another global empire with Tyrannical properties.

    Don't avoid the question. Help us figure it out.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 30 2018, @09:42AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 30 2018, @09:42AM (#686195)

      "objective criteria, set in advance"

      There it is again, the "procedure over results" that has infested and ruined so many things, among others US courts.
      What you are asking for for is the social politics equivalent of communist 5-year plans. It is just as stupid.
      Unless you aim for the equivalent of sticking to Windows XP "because it's objectively proven to work" you need to take risks and try new things, and scrap them if it doesn't work.
      Or be happy to live in a society stuck forever in the past, with the standard of living to go with it.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 30 2018, @07:51PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 30 2018, @07:51PM (#686445)

        The State is in the business of choosing winners and losers from the beginning, not helping society to find winners or avoid losers.

        That's why your Communists failed.