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Abortion Rights Activists Earn Big Win In Ireland Referendum

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DUBLIN, Ireland (CBS) -- Irish voters overwhelmingly supported repealing their country's constitutional ban on abortions and having parliament enact laws that reflect the popular vote, final results from a referendum show. Elections official Barry Ryan said more than 1.4 million voters, or 66 percent of those who cast valid ballots, favored repealing the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution while roughly 724,000 wanted to keep the abortion ban in place.

The outcome was a historic victory for women's' rights in a traditionally Catholic country. The size of the win exceeded expectations and will make it much easier for Irish women to obtain abortions legally for the first time. It will also make it easier for the government to claim a mandate for more liberal laws when the divisive issue goes to parliament later this year.

The vote removes an amendment that required Irish authorities to defend the lives of a woman and a fetus equally on almost all abortions.

Ireland Abortion
Photo Credit: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Ireland adopted the ban in 1983, but support had waned as the country has grown more liberal, legalizing divorce and gay marriage. A poll by the Irish Times earlier this week gave the pro-abortion rights campaign a 12-point lead. Exit polls showed the repeal camp projected to win in a landslide.

"Ireland definitely is a beacon for the rest of the world," said Emily Faulkner, an American pro-life campaigner. Faulkner had flown in not to vote, but to join the anti-abortion rights campaign.

Faulkner said that even if Ireland votes to legalize abortion, "that will never stop our fight. That will just make us fight harder against abortion."

There had been concern over foreign influence on the vote after revelations of meddling in the U.S. election. Earlier this month, Facebook and Google banned ads from campaign groups outside Ireland.

Earlier Saturday, as two exit polls predicted a landslide win, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar praised the apparent victory as "the culmination of a quiet revolution" that has been unfolding in the past 10 to 20 years.

"The people have spoken," said Varadkar, who campaigned for repealing Ireland's constitutional ban on abortions. "The people have said that we want a modern constitution for a modern country, that we trust women and we respect them to make the right decision and the right choices about their health care."

The prime minister, a medical doctor who came to power last year, spoke to RTE News in advance of the announcement of the referendum's official results.

(TM and © Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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