Overview
The Amendment was adopted in November 1992 by a plebiscite of the Irish people, largely in response to Attorney General v. X - a case that arose where a 14-year-old girl who had become pregnant from rape was threatened with legal action for travelling to the United Kingdom to obtain an abortion. It specifies that the prohibition of abortion would not limit freedom of travel from Ireland to other countries where a person might legally obtain an abortion.
On the same day the Fourteenth Amendment was approved, guaranteeing freedom of speech with respect to the issue. Another proposal, the Twelfth Amendment, which would have held that the possibility of suicide was not a sufficient threat to justify an abortion, was rejected.
Under European Communities law in 1992, Irish citizens already had the right to travel unhindered within at least the European Union, being one of the basic "Four freedoms".
Read more about this topic: Thirteenth Amendment Of The Constitution Of Ireland