EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK
LUKANYO MNYANDA: Irish abortion vote shows SA’s progress
The Irish vote on relaxing the country’s abortion restrictions wasn’t even close in the end, with more than two-thirds voting in favour. At one point it looked as if it would be touch and go. While changing social attitudes meant the momentum was always with those in favour of overturning a ban on terminations that stood for about 35 years, high-profile votes in recent years — Britain’s EU referendum and the US election in 2016 — meant there was always room for caution. In the build-up things appeared to be following a similar script, with one side comfortably ahead only for the polls to tighten close to the actual vote. It was only three years earlier, almost to the day, that Irish voters embraced liberalisation and openness in another referendum, that time extending marriage rights to same-sex couples. On the other end of the world, Australia had its own vote endorsing gay marriage in late 2017. These have been largely celebrated as a sign of progress, and in Ireland’s case the re...
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