Eighth Amendment of the Constitution
of Ireland
Abortion law
Part of a series of
articles on abortion
History and overview
Case law
History of abortion law
Laws by country
Types of regulation
Buffer zones
Conscience clauses
Fetal protection
Informed consent
Late-term restrictions
Parental involvement
Spousal consent
The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution
of Ireland introduced a constitutional ban on
abortion. It was effected by the Eighth
Amendment of the Constitution Act,
1983, which was approved by referendum on
7 September 1983 and signed into law on the
7 October of the same year. It is often called
the Irish Pro-Life Amendment.
Offences Against The
Person Act 1861
The Offences against the Person Act 1861
banned abortion in England and has since
been repealed, this is the law that is still
used for Irish law.
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.
Overview
In 1983 abortion was illegal in Ireland; the
Eighth Amendment was introduced to pre-
vent it being legalised at any time in the fu-
ture. Opponents of abortion sought the
amendment partly because of fears that the
Irish 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 Gen-
eral, that reference in Article 41 to the "im-
prescriptable rights, antecedent and superior
to all positive law" of the family conferred
upon spouses a broad right to privacy in mar-
ital affairs. It was feared that this right might
be extended to include the right to an abor-
tion. There was further concern that the Su-
preme Court might take its lead from devel-
opments 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.
The Amendment was u