Irish Citizens Are Going #HomeToVote on Abortion and It’s Warming Our Cold, American Hearts

“It’s inspiring to see democracy in action.”

Abortion rights campaigners protesting in London, UKClaire Doherty/AP

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As Ireland prepares to vote on a historic referendum that could legalize abortion in the deeply Catholic country, Irish citizens are flying home to cast their votes—and they’re using the now-trending hashtag #HomeToVote on social media to talk about it.

The Irish constitution’s Eighth Amendment is one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the world. Ireland currently grants women and fetuses an “equal right to life,” and women who have abortions could face up to 14 years in prison.

Tweets came overwhelmingly from those in favor of legalizing abortion.

Here are some of the best:

Even Ireland’s minister for health, Simon Harris, joined in. 

We see this Love Actually reference, Nic: 

https://twitter.com/sazsazsazzz/status/999744537068294144

https://twitter.com/made0fglitter/status/999280581685870593

https://twitter.com/stephenkinsella/status/999771672986071040

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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