Home > Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland

The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, the founding legal document of the Republic of Ireland, introduced the controversial constitutional ban on abortion. It was effected by the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act, 1983, which was approved by referendum on 7th September 1983 and signed into law on the 7th October of the same year.

1 Changes to the text

Introduction of new Article 40.3.3:

The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.

2 Overview

In 1983 abortion was already illegal in the Republic; the Eighth Amendment was introduced to prevent it being legalised at any time in the future. Opponents of abortion sought the amendment partly because of fears that the Supreme Court might infer an implicit right to an abortion in the provisions of the constitution. The court had already ruled, in the 1974 case of McGee v. The Attorney General , that reference in Article 41 to the "imprescriptable rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law" of the family conferred upon spouses a broad right to privacy in marital affairs. It was feared that this right might be extended to include the right to an abortion. There was further concern that the Supreme Court might take its lead from developments in judicial review in other nations, such as the controversial ruling of the United States Supreme Court in the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade.

Opponents of the Eighth Amendment argued in 1983 that its wording was overly vague. Since its adoption four attempts have been made to clarify the precise meaning of the ban on abortion. There have been two failed attempts (the Twelfth Amendment Bill in 1992, and the Twenty-fifth Amendment Bill in 2002) to strengthen the constitutional ban so that it cannot be interpreted as giving to a mother the right to have an abortion if there is risk that she will otherwise commit suicide. On the other hand the Thirteenth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment (both in 1992) were two successful attempts to loosen the ban, by guaranteeing a pregnant mother's right to freedom of travel and to information about abortion services available abroad respectively.

The Eighth Amendment was adopted during the Fine Gael- LabourThe Irish Labour Party is the third largest political party in the Republic of Ireland. In 1912 James Connolly and James Larkin advocated the creation of an Irish Labour party. This party would represent the workers in the expected Home Rule parliament. coalition government of Garret FitzGeraldGarret FitzGerald ( Irish: Gearoid MacGearailt (born February 9, 1926) was the seventh Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland. He served two periods in office; July 1981 to February 1982, and December 1982 to March 1987. FitzGerald became a member of Seanad but was in fact drafted and first suggested by the previous Fianna FáilFianna Fail The Republican Party ( English: Soldiers of Destiny is the largest political party in the Republic of Ireland. Throughout the twentieth century, the party moved from being a radical, slightly left of centre party, to become the establishment d government of Charles J. Haughey. The amendment was supported by Fianna FáilFianna Fail The Republican Party ( English: Soldiers of Destiny is the largest political party in the Republic of Ireland. Throughout the twentieth century, the party moved from being a radical, slightly left of centre party, to become the establishment d, divided Fine Gael and was generally opposed by the political left. Most of those opposed to the amendment insisted that they were not, nonetheless, in favour of legalising abortion. A number of Catholic bishops spoke out in favour of the amendment but it was opposed by the other mainstream churches. After an acrimonious referendum campaign the amendment was passed by 841,233 (64%) votes in favour to 416,136 (33%) against. It should be noted that, while the change shown above is that made to the English language text of the constitution, constitutionally it is the IrishIrish Gaeilge is a Goidelic language spoken in Ireland. The language is sometimes referred to in English as Gaelic ( SAMPA: /"geIlIk/), Irish Gaelic or Erse but is more generally referred to in Ireland as the Irish language or simply Irish . Use of the te text that has precedence.