Yahoo News Ireland abortion referendum: Exit poll says 68 per cent of voters have backed repealing the Eighth Amendment
An exit poll has suggested Ireland has voted by a "landslide margin" to repeal the Eighth Amendment so that abortion can be legalised.
A poll conducted for The Irish Times by Ipsos/MRBI said 68 per cent of voters in the Republic of Ireland have backed changing abortion laws while 32 per cent have opposed it.
Polls closed across the country at 10pm amid reports of a strong turnout in many parts of the country, particularly in urban areas.
Earlier Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, a proponent of liberalising Ireland's strict abortion regime, predicted a high turnout would be good for those campaigning for change
While thousands of Irish citizens living overseas travelled home in droves to exercise their democratic right on the emotive issue.
Counting will begin on Saturday morning, with the result expected later that day.
The specific question people are being asked is whether they want to see the Eighth Amendment replaced with wording in the constitution that would hand politicians the responsibility to set future laws on abortion, unhindered by constitutional strictures.
If the public votes Yes, the Irish Government intends to legislate by the end of the year to make it relatively easy for a woman to obtain the procedure in early pregnancy.
Ministers have promised to allow terminations within the first 12 weeks, subject to medical advice and a cooling-off period, and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.
President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina cast their votes in Dublin on Friday morning. Around two hours later Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, a vocal advocate for repeal, voted in the city.
"I always get a little buzz from voting, it just feels like it is democracy in action," Mr Varadkar said after emerging from the polling station at Castleknock.
"Not taking anything for granted of course, but quietly confident - there's been good turnout across the country so far and hoping for a Yes vote tomorrow.
"Obviously, I would be encouraging everyone to come out and vote, a high turnout would be to the advantage of the yes campaign."
Leader of the main opposition party, Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin, voted to repeal in his constituency in Cork while Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald also cast a Yes vote in Dublin.
However, her Sinn Fein party colleague and vocal anti-abortion campaigner Peadar Toibin called on Irish people to vote No to "abortion on demand".
"The irony that the referendum on abortion is being held on International Missing Children's Day will not be lost on many Irish people," he tweeted.
"Those on the margins of society suffer most from abortion. Vote No to Abortion on Demand."
A total of 3.3 million citizens are registered to vote, with 6,500 polling stations open across the country.
The Catholic Church is among influential voices arguing that the life of the unborn should be sacrosanct, but the retain campaign faces a major challenge from a Yes camp which has portrayed itself as modernising and in step with international opinion.
The debate during eight weeks of campaigning has been divisive, with the leaders of all the main political parties, including Fine Gael leader Mr Varadkar, backing change.
They argued that a Yes vote represented the compassionate choice for thousands of Irish women forced to travel to England for the procedure.
Opposing them was a vocal No camp, including the bishops, which insisted the life of the child is sacrosanct and interference in that right is immoral.
Around 2,000 voters in 12 islands off the mainland were eligible to vote on Thursday to prevent any delay in counting their ballot papers.
The Eighth Amendment is a clause in the constitution which was written after a previous referendum on the issue in 1983 recognised the right to life of the unborn child.
It protects the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn and effectively prohibits abortion in most cases.
In 1992, women were officially given the right to travel abroad, mostly to the UK, to obtain terminations. Pro-repeal campaigners said almost 170,000 have done so.
The liberalisation campaign gathered momentum after an Indian dentist, Savita Halappanavar, died in hospital in Galway aged 31 when she was refused an abortion during a miscarriage.
Her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, said she repeatedly asked for a termination but was refused because there was a foetal heartbeat.
