Eighth Amendment of The Constitution of Ireland - Oireachtas Debate

Oireachtas Debate

The bill introduced by the Fianna Fáil minority government proposed to introduce the following clause into Article 40.3 of the Constitution:

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.

FitzGerald and Fine Gael initially supported the wording, but, when in government, FitzGerald was advised by his Attorney-General, Peter Sutherland, that the wording as proposed was dangerously flawed. Speaking against the original wording during the Dail debate Alan Shatter TD argued that:

The irony is that I have no doubt, not merely from the interpretation the Attorney General has given but from the other interpretations that can be validly taken from the amendment, that if it in its present form becomes part of our Constitution it will essentially secure a constitutional judgment in the not too distant future requiring the House to enact legislation to permit women to have abortions.

To remedy the perceived weaknesses in the original wording of the amendment bill the government proposed an amendment to the bill during the committee stage with the following alternative wording:

3° Nothing in this Constitution shall be invoked to invalidate, or to deprive of force or effect, any provision of a law on the ground that it prohibits abortion.

This alternative wording was criticised by the opposition for not being "pro-life". Speaking against the alternative wording Michael Woods TD said that:

The amendment proposed by Fine Gael would not protect the constitutional right to life of the mother against attack by any future legislation which sought to prohibit abortion in all circumstances even when the life of the mother was at risk. This is a defect which could be important in the future. Such legislation could not be declared unconstitutional on the grounds that it ignored a mother's right to life because the Fine Gael wording provides that nothing in the Constitution may be invoked to invalidate any law which prohibits abortion.

The government amendment was defeated by 87 to 65 and the original wording proposed by Fianna Fáil was the one put to referendum.