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THIRTY YEARS AGO today, the Eighth Amendment to Ireland’s Constitution was passed by the electorate in a referendum.
Article 40.3.3 acknowledged the right to life of the unborn, equating it with the mother’s right to life.
The controversial amendment restricted the country’s abortion regime and was heralded as a victory for pro-life activists but pro-choice campaigners believe it denies women their rights.
Today, two TDs have called for another referendum to ask the Irish people if they would like to remove Article 40.3.3 from the Constitution.
Clare Daly and Joan Collins say they believe it “should be left to a woman to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy, without legal or medical interference”.
However, they concede that there are many people in Ireland who think abortion should only be available if pregnancy puts a woman’s health at risk, or in cases of rape, incest, or fatal foetal abnormality.
In a statement, the pair claimed: “None of these changes can be made while 40.3.3 is in the Constitution. We think that people with different views can all work together by making repeal of 40.3.3 the focus of our campaigning over the coming months and years.”
Figures show that about 150,000 terminations have been sought by Irish women in the UK and other jurisdictions since 1983.
And, according to Collins, at least three women have died because they were denied abortions here. Citing the cases of Sheila Hodgers (1983), Bimbo Onanuga (2010) and Savita Halappanavar (2012), she asked: “Must we have another death before the Dáil acts to protect women’s lives?”
“We now have the most restrictive abortion legislation imaginable,” the People Before Profit TD said. “Women whose lives are threatened by the risk of suicide due to unwanted pregnancy face so many obstacles that they will probably not even ask for an abortion here.”
The past
Ireland has held two referendums on abortion since 1983.
On 25 November 1992, the Government put forward three possible amendments to the Constitution.
The people of Ireland voted to allow for the freedom to travel outside the State for an abortion. The amendment covering the right to obtain or make available information on abortion services abroad was also passed.
The third question on the ballot paper, the Twelfth Amendment, proposed to legislate for legal abortions. However, it said that the risk of suicide was not sufficient grounds to allow for such a legal abortion.
It shall be unlawful to terminate the life of an unborn unless such termination is necessary to save the life, as distinct from the health, of the mother where there is an illness or disorder of the mother giving rise to a real and substantial risk to her life, not being a risk of self-destruction.
This proposal, which would have seen the ruling in the X Case rolled back, was rejected by the electorate.
A similar amendment was put to the public again in 2002. Once more, it was rejected (this time marginally and the turnout at the polls was much smaller than in previous abortion referendums).
More recent developments will see the introduction of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 which legislates for the Supreme Court ruling in the so-called X Case. The legislation offers clarity to doctors where a pregnant woman’s life is at risk – from physical illness or because of suicide ideation.
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I think we are approaching the perfect storm in Ireland. Everything is falling apart all at once. Property prices, rents, underpaid public workers now all striking at once. Increasing childcare costs, no support for the government… what a time to be in FG!!
Public sector needs reform with the disbanding of unions and professional contracts for our teachers and guards that are not linked to tenure. On the housing front we need high rise in certain areas of Dublin.
What’s with you and teachers? You have an agenda as you’ve nothing good to say on them or their profession. Some of the largest class sizes in Europe and new entrants paid pittance, that together with rising house prices and ridiculous rents means a husband and wife teacher or guard cannot even think of buying in Dublin or the commuter belt and hope to start a family. But go ahead, those bad teachers and your agenda.
Underpaid Public workers?
Hi rise is that because there is land shortage or just maximising developers pockets
James, out of curiosity which ” certain” areas in Dublin are most suited to high rise buildings ?
Hi=high
@Catherine Mc: The areas that aren’t anywhere near him?
Daisy, that is what I was thinking.
James, you must be a secondary school drop out. Don’t be ashamed of it.
@Shawn, THEIR INCREASING WORKLOAD WOULD ONLY MEAN ONE THING..,YES THEY’RE INDEED UNDERPAID!
Let’s keep the recovery going.
I do wish people would stop coming out with ‘The government must do/act……’. The government are not going to do a damned thing except throw out some soundbites and bide their time til they’re thrown out, FF will come in, do the same (as in nothing), get thrown and it’ll be FGs turn again. And so it goes…
James Darcy: yeah, lets make conditions even worse for workers in your thatcherite dreamland. That’ll solve homelessness alright
I have been looking for a place for someone with 2 kids. She can not go over 1,400 that’s the max that she can go. No where to be found. The ones that she has looked at and applied for have gone or they wont take rent allowance. Horrible thinking that you and your kids are going to be homeless. Great place we live in (sigh)
All our professional people are leaving this country – Our Garda, our teachers, our doctors and nurses Ireland will be even more strained in the coming years that we will have no one to fill these positions and we won’t have to worry about unions or pay structures.
You’ve just got to love Ireland!
Successive governments have failed this country. Nothing has changed over the last 10 years. What an opportunity we had to redistribute the wealth, but successive FF and FG governments facilitated making the rich richer and the poor poorer. The current govt are on the payroll of lobbyists too. Ireland is no better off than it was in 2006. Despite whatever spin they tell you, the future is more uncertain than ever…..
Someone is making a fortune on the backs of others.
Ireland is a failed society where 1 income is insufficient to put a roof over your head.
Call for Referendum on “Right2Home” in Ireland … amend Constitution like Germany.
https://www.change.org/p/referendum-on-right2home-in-ireland
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