Irish emigrants urged #HomeToVote in abortion referendum

Irish emigrants are being urged in a new video to travel home to vote in favour of overturning the country’s constitutional ban on abortion in a referendum next month.

The London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign has released the two-minute video, filmed in six countries, to encourage Irish citizens abroad to exercise their right to vote in the historic referendum on 25 May.

About 40,000 out of an estimated 750,000 Irish people living abroad are thought to be eligible to vote. Only those who have been abroad for 18 months or less, and who intend to return to live in Ireland may vote, and they must register in advance and vote in person.

Three years ago thousands of Irish citizens returned home to vote on same-sex marriage legislation, boosting the remarkable two-thirds majority for changing the law.

James Hooper, who wrote the film, said: “We want it to encourage a tide of people back home, united not just by their destination, but by their common goal. We wanted to recapture that energy [of the same-sex marriage referendum] and show people they have the power to enact real change.”

Claire McGowran of the London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign said: “This referendum could be lost or won on one vote. Every trip home matters, so if you’re eligible to vote please come home.

“We’ve heard from voters who are travelling from as far away as south-east Asia and Australia. The fact that people are willing to journey thousands of miles, shows the strength of feeling behind the yes campaign.”

The referendum will ask whether article 40.3.3 of the Irish constitution – known as the eighth amendment – should be repealed. This gives a foetus the same rights to life as a pregnant woman, and has been in place since 1983, enshrining in the constitution a ban on abortion, even in cases of rape and fatal abnormality of the foetus.

If it is overturned, legislation giving women an unrestricted right to abortion up to the 12th week will be introduced. Since 1983 an estimated 170,000 Irish women have travelled to the UK to terminate their pregnancies, and up to 2,000 women a year end pregnancies by taking the abortion pill, illegally obtained online.

An opinion poll last week showed a clear majority in favour of repealing the eighth amendment – 47% of voters said they would vote yes, while 28% said they would vote no, although support for the yes campaign has slipped by nine percentage points since January.

One in five voters were as yet undecided, according to the poll conducted for the Irish Times by Ipsos Mori.

Support for repeal is highest among younger, urban, female and higher income voters.

In May 2015, Irish citizens travelled from as far as Australia to vote in the equal marriage referendum. Hundreds posted pictures and accounts of their journey on social media under #HomeToVote, the same hashtag being used in the 2018 campaign.