Irish Voters to Decide Whether to Change Abortion Law

 

Irish voters will decide on Friday whether to end the country’s ban on abortion¹ in most cases.

Voters will be asked in a referendum whether the country’s constitution should be changed to remove current restrictions² on abortion.

A constitutional amendment³ banned all abortions⁴ in Ireland in 1983. A change was made five years ago to permit abortions only in cases where the mother’s life was in danger. Thousands of Irish women seek abortions each year in Britain, where they are legal.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s government supports lifting current abortion restrictions.

If voters agree, the government will propose legislation to change the rules. Varadkar has said the legislation would permit women to have abortions with no restrictions up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy⁵.

Recent public opinion studies suggest that there is more support for changing the existing law than for keeping it in place.

Campaigns on both sides of the issue grew intense leading up to the vote. Ireland is a majority Roman Catholic country. The Church opposes abortion.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Varadkar criticized those opposed to abortion for some campaign advertising⁶. His criticism centered on the use of images of people with Down Syndrome⁷. Some ads had suggested that lifting current restrictions would lead to abortions of babies with the genetic⁸ disorder⁹.

Facebook and Google have moved to restrict or remove ads relating to the vote. The companies said concerns were raised about influence from unknown sources.

Lawmaker James Lawless is a technology spokesman for Ireland’s opposition¹⁰ Fianna Fail party. He told the Associated Press that there are no rules for political campaigning on social media in Ireland.

“Somebody at the moment can throw any amount of money, from anywhere in the world, with any message - and there’s nothing anybody can do about it,” Lawless said.

The issue of social media’s role in elections has been raised in other countries as well. Facebook has admitted that Russian groups bought ads on its service in an effort to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Several European nations have also accused foreign groups of trying to influence elections through social media campaigns.

Craig Dwyer is with Ireland’s Transparent¹¹ Referendum Initiative. The volunteer group was set up to collect information on ads being used to target Irish Facebook users.

Dwyer said the group had collected and examined nearly 900 Facebook ads connected to the referendum. Many were placed by registered lobby groups, and most were inside Ireland.

But many others could either not be traced or were from overseas. Dwyer said some were linked to U.S.-based anti-abortion organizations.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

referendum – n. election in which people in an area vote for or against an issue of public concern

abortion – n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy

source – n. where something comes from

moment – n. a very short period of time

lobby – n. an organized group of people who work together to influence government decisions that relate to a particular industry, issue, etc.

trace – v. find the origin of something

role –n. the part someone or something plays in an activity or a performance

1 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

2 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

3 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

4 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

5 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

6 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

7 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

8 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

9 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

11 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。