The people of Ireland have voted resoundingly not to remove the word “mother” from the Irish Constitution.
This week, the results of a double referendum were announced. The first item on the ballot was a proposal to change the constitution's declaration that the family is founded on marriage to instead read that the family could also be founded on “other durable relationships.” Sixty-eight percent of voters said “No” to this suggested change. The second item was a proposal to remove portions of the constitution regarding mothers, including a line declaring that “by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved,” and that the State should “endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.” Seventy-four percent—the highest “No” vote in the history of Irish constitutional referendums—rejected this proposal. Only one constituency in the whole country, located in affluent south Dublin, supported it.
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