Ireland voted by a landslide to ditch its strict abortion laws in a landmark referendum hailed by Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Saturday as a "quiet revolution," triggering scenes of jubilation in Dublin.
Final results showed more than 66 percent of voters in what has been a traditionally staunchly Catholic country backed repealing the constitutional ban on terminations.
Hugging, celebrating, singing and cheering wildly, thousands crammed into the courtyard of Dublin Castle, where the official result was declared, chanting "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
"Wonderful, wonderful, today is wonderful!" said Eileen Shields, wearing a sticker reading "We made history".
She said she was ostracized by her friends and the Church when she got pregnant outside of marriage as a teenager 46 years ago.
"I'm here because I'm 65 and in 1972 Ireland wasn't a nice place to be when you were 18 and pregnant and on your own," she told AFP.
Wearing "Repeal" tops and "Yes" badges, the crowds celebrated as the verdict was announced, waving Irish flags and placards reading "Thank you," with love hearts on.
At Dublin's RDS count center, 40-year-old nurse Ruth Bowie wept at the results.
She told AFP: "I had to leave my country to get the healthcare that I needed when I was told that my baby wouldn't survive outside the womb and I've told my story over and over again just in the hope that this day would come -- and it's finally come."
We trust women: PM
The final results of Friday's referendum showed 66.4 percent voted for removing the constitutional ban, while 33.6 voted against.
The turnout was 64 percent.
Among the 40 constituencies, the pro-choice vote peaked at 78 percent in Dublin Bay South, while rural Donegal was the only one to vote against abortion, by 52 percent.
"A quiet revolution has taken place, a great act of democracy," Varadkar tweeted.
He told cheering crowds at Dublin Castle: "The people have spoken."
"They are saying this is a country where we trust women and respect their choices."
"Thank you so much for making today possible."
His government proposes allowing abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.
Varadkar said he wanted the law in force by the end of the year and Health Minister Simon Harris told AFP that the cabinet would meet on Tuesday to approve the drafting of legislation.
Campaigners who have fought for more than three decades to remove the Eighth Amendment abortion ban from Ireland's Constitution hailed the referendum vote as a major breakthrough for the largely Catholic nation.
"This is a monumental day for women in Ireland," said Orla O'Connor, co-director of the Together for Yes group. "This is about women taking their rightful place in Irish society, finally."
The vote is a "rejection of an Ireland that treated women as second-class citizens," she said, adding: "This is about women's equality and this day brings massive change, monumental change for women in Ireland, and there is no going back."
Opponents of the repeal movement conceded defeat earlier.
John McGuirk, spokesman for the Save the 8th group, told Irish television Saturday that many Irish citizens will not recognize the country they are waking up in. The group said on its website that Irish voters have created a "tragedy of historic proportions," but McGuirk said the vote must be respected.
"You can still passionately believe that the decision of the people is wrong, as I happen to do, and accept it," he said.
Exit polls from the Irish Times and broadcaster RTE had suggested the Irish people have voted by nearly 70 percent to repeal the Eighth Amendment.
The RTE poll indicated that about 72 percent of women voted "yes" along with about 66 percent of men. The strongest backing came from younger voters — the exit poll said the only age group in which a majority voted "no" were voters who are 65 or older.
Ireland's parliament will be charged with coming up with new abortion laws in the coming months. The government proposes to allow abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with later terminations allowed in some cases.
Katherine Zappone, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, said she is confident new abortion legislation can be approved by parliament and put in place before the end of the year.
"I feel very emotional," she said. "I'm especially grateful to the women of Ireland who came forward to provide their personal testimony about the hard times that they endured, the stress and the trauma that they experienced because of the eighth amendment."
170,000 terminations abroad
Ireland introduced a constitutional ban on abortion following a 1983 referendum. Terminating a pregnancy carries a 14-year maximum jail term.
The law was tweaked in 2013 to allow terminations if the mother's life is at risk.
The ban has led to thousands of women traveling each year to neighboring Britain, where terminations are legal, or increasingly turning to abortion pills sold online.
Since 1983, around 170,000 Irish women have gone abroad for terminations.
"It's mad that there would have been people flying in to vote and a number of women in that airport waiting to leave to go and have an abortion," said art director Aoife Murray, 27, who said the referendum outcome left her in tears of relief.
In the UK, abortion is legal on the British mainland, but remains outlawed in Northern Ireland.
Sinn Fein's party leaders from both sides of the border held up a placard at Dublin Castle reading: "The North is next".
