Pregnant woman dies in Irish hospital after being refused a termination Can you (or someone else) clarify something for me? It has been said in this thread a few times that the public in Ireland have voted on this topic, and voted to oppose abortion? Is this true? Has there been a vote? The right to life is enshrined in the Constitution. There have been six - might be seven constitutional referenda on issues to do with abortion. The Constitution cannot be changed without a referendum, Every Irish citizen who lives in the Republic has the right to vote in a Constitutional referendum. Foreign people who have the right to live in Ireland, for instance, a person who lives there but is from a different EU country do not get a vote, even though they do get a vote in elections and such. Currently, an abortion is legal if the mother's life is in danger. Which makes this lady's case even more of a needless tragedy And also, it is no longer a crime to leave the country to get yerself an abortion elsewhere. It used to be a crime and you could be prevented leaving the country if someone thought you were off for an abortion and told the police. And also, it is no longer a crime to have information about abortion. When I was a teenager - middle eighties - magazines from England like Cosmo and Marie Claire which had adverts for Marie Stopes or other clinics