Pro-abortioners in Ireland vote ‘yes’
DUBLIN: Pro-abortionists, including Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, were yesterday optimistic that a strong turnout in the country’s abortion referendum yesterday would favour those seeking change in what only two decades ago was one of Europe’s most socially conservative countries.
Opinion polls suggest voters in the once deeply Catholic nation are set to overturn one of the world’s strictest bans on terminations, and analysts say the high turnout, particularly in urban areas, is likely to favour a “yes” vote.
Queues formed outside some polling stations yesterday and there was speculation that the turnout could top the 61% who backed gay marriage in 2015.
Voters were asked if they wished to scrap a 1983 amendment to the constitution that gives an unborn child and its mother equal rights to life.
The consequent prohibition on abortion was partly lifted in 2013 for cases where the mother’s life was in danger.
Ireland legalised divorce by a razor-thin majority only in 1995, but became the first country to adopt gay marriage.
But no social issue has divided its 4.8 million people as sharply as abortion, which was pushed up the political agenda by the death in 2012 of a 31-year-old Indian immigrant from a septic miscarriage after she was refused a termination.
“I think this issue is important because it’s been 35 years since any person has had a choice to vote on this,” said Sophie O’gara, 28, who was voting yes near Dublin’s bustling ‘Silicon Docks’, home to some of the world’s biggest technology firms.
“So many women have travelled across to England to take care of their family and healthcare needs, and I think it’s a disgrace and it needs to change,” she said, referring to women who travel to Britain for abortions.
Videos shared on social media showed scores of voters arriving home at Irish airports from abroad. Ireland does not allow expatriates to vote via post or in embassies, but those away for less than 18 months remain on the electoral roll.
As with the gay marriage referendum, those using the #hometovote hashtag on Twitter appeared overwhelmingly to back change. Many posted photos of themselves in sweatshirts saying “Repeal”.
“Women and girls should not be made into health-care refugees when they are in a time of crisis,” said Niamh Kelly, 27, who paid 800 euros (R11 600) and travelled 20 hours to return from Hanoi where she works as an English teacher.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime generation chance to lift the culture of shame that surrounds this issue so it was really important to me to be part of that.”
The fiercely contested vote has divided political parties, seen the once-mighty church take a back seat and become a test case for how global internet giants deal with social media advertising in political campaigns.
In 1983, when religion was front and centre and abortion was a taboo subject for most, the campaign was defined by women on both sides publicly describing their personal experiences of terminations.
“Yes” campaigners have argued that with over 3 000 women travelling to Britain each year for terminations and others ordering pills illegally online, abortion is already a reality in Ireland.
Varadkar urged voters to put themselves in the shoes of an Irish woman dealing with a crisis pregnancy. – Reuters/ African News Agency (ANA) WASHINGTON/SEOUL/ST PETERSBURG: US President Donald Trump said a planned summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un could still take place on June 12 as scheduled, although just days ago he cancelled the meeting citing Pyongyang’s “tremendous anger and open hostility”.
Trump welcomed a conciliatory statement from North Korea, saying it remained open to talks after he called off the summit with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un on Thursday.
“It was a very nice statement they put out,” Trump said. “We’ll see what happens – it could even be the 12th. We’re talking to them now. They very much want to do it. We’d like to do it.”
Earlier on Twitter, Trump had noted “very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea”.
After decades of tension on the Korean peninsula and antagonism with the US over its nuclear weapons programme, Kim and Trump agreed to meet in what would be the first meeting between a serving US president and a North Korean leader.
Trump scrapped the meeting on Thursday after repeated threats by North Korea to pull out of the summit in Singapore over what it saw as confrontational remarks by US officials. Trump cited North Korean hostility in cancelling the summit.
In Pyongyang, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said North Korea’s recent criticisms of certain US officials had been a reaction to unbridled American rhetoric and that the antagonism showed “the urgent necessity” for the summit.
“His sudden and unilateral announcement to cancel the summit is something unexpected to us and we cannot but feel great regret for it,” Kim Kye Gwan said.
He added that North Korea remained open to resolving issues with Washington “regardless of ways, at any time”.
North Korea had sharply criticised suggestions by Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, and Vice President Mike Pence that it could share the fate of Libya if it did not swiftly surrender its nuclear arsenal. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed by Natobacked militants after halting his nuclear programme.
Kim Kye Gwan said North Korea appreciated Trump for having made the bold decision to work toward a summit. “We even inwardly hoped that what is called ‘Trump formula’ would help clear both sides of their worries and comply with the requirements of our side and would be a wise way of substantial effect for settling the issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia was ready for dialogue with the US, but a proposed summit between him and Trump was not working out for now. Trump said in March they would meet soon, but since then already poor ties between Washington and Moscow have deteriorated further. – Reuters