Ireland’s abortion laws, anchored in the Eighth Amendment to the country’s constitution, are among the most restrictive in Europe, with abortion effectively outlawed in nearly all cases, including rape, incest or crisis pregnancies.
That could change. Irish voters cast ballots on Friday in a referendum to keep or repeal the Eighth Amendment. Repeal will mean that abortion will be made legal throughout the country.
Results of an exit poll conducted for The Irish Times, released Friday evening, showed voters had favored repeal by a large margin, 68 percent to 32 percent. Exit polling is not necessarily predictive, however, and actual vote-counting will not begin until 9 a.m. Saturday. Official results are not expected to be announced until late Saturday afternoon.
Here is what you need to kno [-;pw to understand Ireland’s abortion referendum.