Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland

The Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018 (bill no. 29 of 2018) is a proposed amendment to the constitution of Ireland which, if enacted, would remove the constitutional protection for the life of the unborn and allow for the legislation of abortion. It is being proposed by current government. Article 40.3.3° was inserted in 1983 by the Eighth Amendment and imposes a constitutional bar on abortion, unless the life of the pregnant woman is directly at risk. An amendment to the constitution must pass both Houses of the Oireachtas and be approved by Irish citizens voting in a referendum. The government intends to hold this referendum on 25 May 2018.

Proposed change to the text

The Amendment proposes to replace the current text of Article 40.3.3°. This provision currently reads as follows:

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.

This subsection shall not limit freedom to travel between the State and another state.

This subsection shall not limit freedom to obtain or make available, in the State, subject to such conditions as may be laid down by law, information relating to services lawfully available in another state.

Note: The first clause was added by Eighth Amendment approved by referendum in 1983. The second and third clauses were approved by referendum in 1992 by the Thirteenth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment respectively.

If the amendment is passed, the subsection would be replaced with the following text:

Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy

Proposed legislation

The Department of Health published a Policy Paper on Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy on 9 March 2018. This provides an outline of the policies for legislation which would repeal and replace the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 if the Amendment of Constitution Bill is passed in a referendum. Under this scheme, abortion would be permissible in circumstances where:

• there is a risk to the health of a woman, on assessment by two doctors, without a distinction between physical and mental health;
• there is a medical emergency, on assessment by one doctor;
• there is a fetal condition which is likely to lead to death before or shortly after birth, on the assessment of two doctors;
• up to 12 weeks of pregnancy without specific indication, with a time period after an initial assessment by a medical practitioner and the termination procedure.

The Policy Paper also provided that:

• medical practitioners would have a right of conscientious objection;
• the termination of pregnancy in circumstances other than those under the proposal would be a criminal offence, but that A woman who procures or seeks to procure a termination of pregnancy for herself would not be guilty of an offence

Background

Abortion has been subject to specific criminal liability in Ireland since the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which continued to have effect after Irish independence in 1922. The Eighth Amendment in 1983 added specific protection for the life of the unborn to the Constitution of Ireland. In 2013, the provisions of the 1861 Act were repealed and superseded by the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, under which the termination of pregnancy remained an offence except where performed in circumstances where the life of the pregnant woman was at risk, including from a risk of suicide.

The Campaign to Repeal the Eighth Amendment has its roots in the Anti-Amendment Campaign in the 1983 referendum campaign, and in abortion rights groups which have been active since then, particularly at the referendums held in 1992 and in 2002. Since the passage of the 2013 Act, there has been a significant increase in calls to repeal the Eighth Amendment to allow legislation on increased access to abortion.

In the run up to the 2016 Irish general election, a number of parties committed to a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment (Labour, Green Party,, Social Democrats , Sinn Féin and Workers' Party) and a group of feminist law academics published model legislation to show what a post-Eighth Amendment abortion law could look like.

On 27 July 2016, the new government led by Taoiseach Enda Kenny appointed Supreme Court judge Mary Laffoy as chair of a Citizens' Assembly to consider a number of topics, including the Eighth Amendment. The Assembly recommended a referendum to remove and replace the Eighth Amendment.

The 5th Annual March for Choice, organised by the Abortion Rights Campaign, took place in Dublin on Saturday 24 September 2016 marking the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion. The theme of the rally was ‘Rise and Repeal’. The attendance was estimated to be around 20,000.

On 14 June 2017, on his first day as Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar announced the government's intention to introduce legislation to facilitate the holding of a referendum on abortion in 2018.

In September 2017 the Oireachtas Committee on the 8th Amendment began work considering how to give effect to this recommendation. It reported in December 2017, and the report was debated in both Houses of the Oireachtas in January 2018. Minister for Health Simon Harris opened the Dáil debate in support of the recommendations of the Committee by listing the numbers who travelled from each county in 2016 for an abortion. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin declared that he had changed his view on the issue and gave his support for Repeal of the Eighth Amendment and for the Committee's recommendations.

Oireachtas debate

The Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill was introduced by Minister for Health Simon Harris. The debate on the Second Stage began on 9 March 2018.

Opinion polling

2017–18

Date(s) conducted	Polling organisation/client	Sample size	Repeal	Retain	Undecided	Lead
17–18 Feb 2018	TheJournal.ie	—	50%	31%	18%	19%
5 Jan 2018	Ipsos MRBI/Irish Times	—	56%	29%	15%	27%
4–5 Dec 2017	Ipsos MRBI/Irish Times	1,200	62%	26%	13%	36%

External links

Official

• Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018 at www.oireachtas.ie and beta.oireachtas.ie — index pages with links to text of bill and debates

News

Abortion Referendum from The Irish Times [1] from TheJournal.ie