Ireland will hold a referendum on abortion next year, it has been announced.

The decision to hold the referendum was announced by the Irish government on Tuesday afternoon.

The referendum will take place in "May or June 2018" which is a few weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit Ireland.

Abortion laws in Ireland are amongst the most conservative in Europe.

Last year, the UN Human Rights Committee described Ireland's abortion laws as "cruel, inhuman and degrading".

Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, who described the current abortion laws as "too restrictive", said having the referendum next year gave sides on both side of the argument a chance to shape their points of view.

"Any amendment to our constitution requires careful consideration by the people. They should be given ample time to consider the issues and to take part in well-informed public debate.

"Setting a timetable for the referendums to be held over the next two years will allow all involved in campaigning on the issues to plan ahead and to facilitate that public debate," said Mr. Varadkar. </s> (CNN) The Irish government announced Tuesday that a referendum on the country's abortion laws -- some of Europe's most restrictive -- will be held next year.

In a statement, the Irish government said the referendum would be held in May or June 2018, just months before Pope Francis is due to visit the Catholic-majority country.

Ireland's abortion laws are drawn from the 8th amendment to the country's constitution, which places the right to life of an unborn child on equal footing with the right to life of the mother.

Ireland's Prime Minister, or Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, who came to power in June, pledged to hold a referendum following the non-binding recommendations of a Citizen's Assembly. The group heard harrowing testimony from scores of Irish women and received more than 13,000 individual submissions

In Tuesday's statement, Varadkar said the Citizen's Assembly report was "currently being considered" by a parliamentary committee. The precise timetable for the referendum would be defined in legislation that would be brought forward.

"A Bill to amend the Constitution will be prepared in light of the committee's report, and subject to its passage by the Houses of the Oireachtas (Parliament), a referendum will be held in May or June of 2018."

Varadkar has generally expressed conservative views on abortion, although he has suggested the 8th amendment is too restrictive.

"Any amendment to our Constitution requires careful consideration by the people," he said Tuesday. "They should be given ample time to consider the issues and to take part in well-informed public debate."

Calls to "Repeal the 8th" have been steadily growing for years. In March, thousands of activists brought Dublin to a halt during the Strike 4 Repeal rally.

This Saturday, organizers expect tens of thousands to demonstrate in the Irish capital at the sixth annual March for Choice.

Many local abortion rights activists applauded Tuesday's announcement, but noted that the terms of the referendum might only be a first step for the repeal movement.

Linda Kavanagh, spokesperson for the Abortion Rights Campaign told CNN: "We welcome the news that the referendum will be in the first half of the 2018. We have all waited long enough to be allowed to make decisions about our own bodies."

"However we reserve judgment until we see the wording of the referendum...We fear that the wording of a referendum will offer only very limited abortion access and repeat the failures of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act."

"We need broad-based legislation so that real and realistic access is given, otherwise thousands will still travel or break the law by importing and taking abortion pills. It is vital that the government realize that the 30,000 plus people who take to the streets on Saturday for the March for Choice are doing it because they want free, safe and legal abortion access," Kavanagh added.

Anti-abortion campaigners said they would continue their campaign in light of Tuesday's announcement.

Cora Sherlock, a spokesperson for Ireland's Pro Life Campaign group told CNN: "We have never claimed that Ireland is perfect, but we have every reason to be proud of the 8th Amendment.

"The Pro Life Campaign will continue to highlight the positive effects of the 8th Amendment and the devastating effect abortion has had in countries where the rights of the baby are set at zero." </s> Ireland says will hold abortion referendum in 2018

A Pro-Life campaigner demonstrates outside the Irish Parliament ahead of a vote to allow limited abortion in Ireland, Dublin July 10, 2013. — Reuters picDUBLIN, Sept 26 — Ireland will hold a referendum next year on whether to repeal its constitutional ban on abortion in almost all cases, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar's government announced today.

The vote on the eighth amendment, which makes abortion illegal unless there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother, will take place in May or June 2018, a statement said. — AFP </s> Abortion has officially become legal in the Republic of Ireland after president Michael D Higgins signed new legislation into law.

Terminations will be available across from the state from January 2019.

A bill to legalise abortions in Ireland passed through all its parliamentary stages earlier this month.

President Higgins signed the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018 on Thursday and it has accordingly become law.

The new laws will allow for unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, subject to a cooling-off period and a requirement for medical consultation.

After 12 weeks, abortions will be permitted in exceptional circumstances.

The legislation will give effect to the result of a referendum in May.

The poll delivered landslide support for the repeal of a section of the state’s constitution – the Eight Amendment – that provided the legal basis for the country’s near blanket ban on abortion.

Last month Health Minister Simon Harris welcomed the passage of the bill through the houses of the Oireachtas parliament “as a genuinely historic moment”. </s> Ireland will hold a referendum next year on whether to repeal its constitutional ban on abortion in almost all cases, a few weeks before Pope Francis visits.



The prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has previously said the eighth amendment, which makes abortion illegal unless there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother, is “too restrictive”.

The Irish government said the vote would be held in May or June 2018. The pope is due to visit in August to attend the World Meeting of Families.

Abortion has always been illegal in Ireland, but a ban was inserted into the constitution in 1983 after a referendum in which 67% of voters were in favour and 33% against.

A woman convicted of having an illegal termination in Ireland faces up to 14 years in prison. However, women are free to travel abroad for abortions, and thousands do so every year, mainly to England.

Opinion polls in recent years have consistently indicated strong support for reform in Ireland, which remains largely Catholic, but where scandals have dented the church’s authority.

Last year, the UN human rights committee said Ireland’s abortion laws were “cruel, inhuman and degrading”. It repeated this criticism in June.

The referendum was announced as the Irish government set out a timetable for several votes over the next two years, including one on Ireland’s controversial anti-blasphemy law.

In 2015, Ireland became the first country to legalise gay marriage in a referendum.

Varadkar said in a statement: “Any amendment to our constitution requires careful consideration by the people. They should be given ample time to consider the issues and to take part in well-informed public debate.

“Setting a timetable for the referendums to be held over the next two years will allow all involved in campaigning on the issues to plan ahead and to facilitate that public debate.” </s> Ireland is to hold a referendum on abortion in 2018, it has been announced.

A decision on the eighth amendment, which gives equal right to life to the unborn, will take place in May or June next year, according to Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s government.

The public will then decide if abortion should be legalised “in almost all cases”.

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The move comes after a long fight by campaigners to “repeal the 8th”, which caught international attention. It also comes before the sixth annual March for Choice demonstrations in Dublin and London on Saturday.

Claire McGowran, a volunteer with London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign, told The Independent that they were waiting for an exact date and the wording of the referendum question and were ready to start a year of campaigning.

"Our ideal is that the eighth amendment is completely repealed, and not replaced," she said. "The very minimum is that it's not confusing anymore and gives free, safe abortions to women in Ireland regardless of how they became pregnant."

The United Nations Human Rights Committee called last July for the country’s abortion bans to be reversed.

Abortion Rights Campaign wrote on its website to advertise the march on Saturday: “This year we have learned of young children sectioned under the Mental Health Act for seeking abortions, of suicidal women denied access to the abortion they’re entitled to under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act because their doctor doesn’t think they’re ‘suicidal enough’.

“Meanwhile in Northern Ireland women continue to be prosecuted for procuring their own abortions, even though the push to decriminalise abortion is growing in the rest of the UK.

Shape Created with Sketch. Thousands march in Dublin for Irish abortion rights Show all 5 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Thousands march in Dublin for Irish abortion rights 1/5 REUTERS 2/5 REUTERS 3/5 REUTERS 4/5 REUTERS 5/5 REUTERS 1/5 REUTERS 2/5 REUTERS 3/5 REUTERS 4/5 REUTERS 5/5 REUTERS

“We need full repeal of the 8th Amendment in the Republic of Ireland, and proper legislation in Northern Ireland. We need access to free, safe and legal abortion for all who need or want it. And we need it now.”

Thousands of women seeking an abortion have had to travel to the UK every year to get the procedure, which is legal under Westminster, but Irish women have had to pay up to £4,000 for travel, accommodation and medical costs.

Ireland, a predominantly Catholic country, currently has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe. The eighth amendment was voted in a time when contraception was also illegal in Ireland.

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A woman can face 14 years in prison for taking abortion pills which can be ordered online.

Terminating a pregnancy is only allowed under extremely rare circumstances where the mother’s life is in danger. This provision to protect the mother was voted into the Constitution in the 1980s by a large majority in another referendum.

However, referendums have recently led to progressive social change, for example, same sex marriage was legalised in 2015.

Various high-profile cases of women seeking bodily autonomy have forced the issue into the spotlight.

The UN committee focused on Amanda Mellet, who was 21 weeks pregnant when she was told that her baby would die in the womb or shortly after birth. She got an abortion in the UK but could not afford to stay long, and was forced to have her baby’s ashes flown to her separately.

In March, women across the country went on strike for a day, wearing black, to protest the laws. The campaign group, Strike 4 Repeal, was inspired by similar protests in Poland in 2016, where women took to the streets, waving coat hangers as a powerful symbol of women who were at serious risk via underground and illegal procedures. </s> Ireland says it will hold an abortion referendum in 2018.

Abortion is currently illegal in Ireland, unless its performed as a medical intervention to save the mother's life.

It means that thousands of women travel abroad every year to access abortion in other countries, or put their lives and their health at risk in unsafe procedures.

Earlier this year, statistics showed a drop in the number of Irish women travelling to the UK for abortions, as those who gave Irish addresses dropped.

But there were concerns that more women were choosing to have abortions at home, accessing pills online.

Some 3,265 women gave Irish addresses at clinics and hospitals in England and Wales last year - a drop of almost 200 on the previous year and down from 6,673 in 2001.

According to the Irish Times, the referendum will be set for May or June next year.

The paper reports that the referendum came to light through a memorandum Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will take to his cabinet meeting this week.

It may be run on the same day as other votes being held in the country.

Abortion law in Ireland has been a huge source of anger and protest for several years.

The right of life for an unborn child is enshrined in the countries constitution, referred to in the eighth amendment.

It is also an offence to 'intentionally destroy an unborn human life'.

Those who are found guilty can face jail for up to 14 years.

Celebrities including Cillian Murphy, Holly Carpenter and Father Ted creator Graham Linehan have been among those who have previously marched through Dublin to argue for a change to the law.

Last spring, 25,000 people marched through Dublin in a 'Repeal the 8th' march.

But the law has its supporters too, and earlier this year, pro-life supporters rallied for their annual Right for Life march.

The Citizens Assembly has previously recommended that the law be changed to allow abortion without restriction up to 12 weeks. </s> Garda Alan Gallagher and Presiding Officer Carmel McBride carry a polling box, used, a day early, by the few people that live off the coast of Donegal on the island of Inishbofin on May 24, 2018 in Donegal, Ireland.

DUBLIN — Prime Minister Leo Varadkar urged people voting Friday in Ireland's abortion referendum to remove the country's "legacy of shame" toward women by overturning the strict abortion law that fiercely divides this Catholic nation.

"If we don't remove the (Eighth) Amendment from the constitution our doctors and lawmakers can't do anything for women. They can't do anything for women who have been raped, who are children themselves or who have been given the heartbreaking news of fatal fetal abnormality," Varadkar said.

The vote is expected to be an extremely close contest, with polls closing at 10 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET). The result of the highly controversial issue is expected Saturday afternoon.

Fine weather over much of the country, including the capital Dublin, could translate to a high turnout that would favor those who want to change Ireland's abortion law.

Currently, abortion is only allowed in Ireland if a women's life is at risk. A "Yes" vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment, which states that a fetus has an equal right to life as the woman, would mean that Irish women would be able to get an abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

It would be a major step for a country where almost 80% of the population still strongly identify as Catholic.

An average of nine women travel every day from Ireland to the United Kingdom, where abortion is legal, to terminate pregnancies, according to the Irish government. Three women each day take abortion pills bought online, risking a 14-year jail sentence.

"If the referendum doesn't pass these women will continue to have to travel abroad in their thousands," Varadkar said.

John McGuirk, a prominent Irish abortion rights opponent, noted that Friday is an international missing children's day.

"In the U.K., 8 million children have gone missing since the abortion law was introduced. I hope Ireland will not make the same mistake today," McGuirk said.

Save The 8th, an organization that opposes abortion, sent an email Friday morning to supporters and media targeted at undecided voters. "Abortion does one thing, and one thing only — it kills a baby," it said.

In Dublin, "Yes" campaigners handed out stickers at major pedestrian crossroads. And many people who voted on their way to work wore "I voted" buttons.

More: Both sides in Irish landmark abortion vote make final pleas to voters

More: Ireland to be tested by abortion vote on whether to overturn near-total ban

The major newspapers carried "letters to the editor" from concerned citizens.

"If we vote 'Yes,' every unborn, wanted and unwanted, will have zero rights," wrote Frances Kelleher, from Killarney, in the Irish Independent. "I do not believe the smart people of Ireland want this unrestricted, abortion-on-demand bill. I will be voting 'No.'"

If the vote passes it would be another social-change milestone for Ireland after it legalized contraception (1979), divorce (1995) and same-sex marriage (2015).

It would also leave just three places in Europe where abortion is illegal unless a woman’s life is at risk: the micro-states of Andorra and San Marino, and Malta.

In the United States, President Trump plans to cut funding to family-planning clinics that offer abortion services. He has also vowed to appoint enough Supreme Court justices who oppose abortion to overturn Roe v. Wade, the abortion rights decision from 1973.

Thousands of Irish nationals traveled home to cast their vote in Friday's referendum. Their stories, and journeys, have been filling up social media platforms using the "#hometovote" hashtag.

"No flights left from London, so I have a 4 hour train, 4 hour wait and 3 hour ferry to make it home to vote- which is a walk in the park in comparison to the journey that Irish women are making every day to the UK," @MichelleMarleyy wrote.

Liam Dunne, 63, a farmer who lives south of Dublin and supports a woman's right to abortion, said he was confident his side would prevail. He believes that abortion should be a personal decision and not up to the government to decide.

"The way it is now, it's a bit like in America where sometimes there's nothing to prevent your neighbor from buying a gun. It leaves you feeling a little bit powerless," he said. </s> DUBLIN - Thousands of demonstrators marched in Dublin on Saturday in favour of liberalising Ireland's tight abortion laws ahead of a planned referendum on the fiercely-debated issue.

Protesters chanted, "My body, my choice" and waved placards reading "Not the church, not the state, women should decide their fate" as they headed through the capital towards the parliament. Linda Kavanagh, a spokeswoman from the Abortion Rights Campaign which organised the rally, told AFP: "The message today is 'time to act' because we've waited for a long time for a change.

"We want full repeal. We can't support exceptions and only a hundred people allowed to get access to abortion."

Abortion has always been illegal in Ireland and in 1983 an eighth amendment was added to the constitution after a referendum, giving equal rights to the life of the unborn child and the mother.

The law was changed three decades later to allow terminations when the mother's life is at risk, following public outrage at the death of a pregnant woman in 2012 who was refused an abortion.

In the face of mounting public pressure, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Tuesday announced plans for a referendum on the issue to be held in May or June 2018, ahead of a visit by Pope Francis in August.

As the rally began, Keishia Taylor, a spokeswoman for the organisation ROSA (For Reproductive Rights, Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity), told AFP: "I think today is gonna be a huge turnout, a turning point. Ireland is still deeply divided over abortion.

A recent poll by Ipsos/MRBI found 67 percent of respondents were opposed to abortion in general but that 76 percent were in favour of legalising it cases of rape. Varadkar, who trained as a doctor, has called the current laws "too restrictive".

Varadkar has said he would support abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities but is not supporting wider liberalisation.

Thousands of Irish women currently travel abroad for abortions every year, mainly to England.

A "March for Choice" took place in London outside the Irish embassy on Saturday.

The upcoming vote has rallied those on both sides of the debate, including activists seeking to keep the current legislation in place, who have said they will be leafleting in cities across Ireland.

"We have every reason to be proud of the eighth amendment which has saved tens of thousands of lives and has prevented the horrific human rights violations that abortion has caused in so many other countries," said Cora Sherlock, spokeswoman for the Pro-Life Campaign.

The Irish government has already sought to gauge public opinion, setting up a Citizens' Assembly which between November and April debated the eighth amendment.

Summing up their discussions, a majority of the 99 members recommended legalising abortion in a wide range of circumstances.

A parliamentary committee has also been examining the abortion law, but on both sides of the debate there is mistrust of officials' approach.

"I'm willing to bet that 90 percent of this country have never actually watched an abortion, the real graphic truth," said Tim Jackson, a marketing consultant who has demanded MPs watch footage of a termination.

In support of his cause, Jackson completed a 10-day hunger strike on Wednesday.

Although the pro-abortion camp reacted positively to the referendum announcement, there is suspicion that MPs continue to be heavily influenced by the church in the mainly Catholic country.

Unlike the referendum which saw Ireland vote in favour of same-sex marriage in May 2015, no politicians have yet taken a strong position calling for greater abortion access.

Irish media has reacted similarly, reluctant to take a bold stance on an issue which has divided Irish society.
The Republic of Ireland announces a referendum on abortion will be held between May and June 2018.