The Law Now
What is the 8th Amendment and why does it matter?
What is the law on abortion now?
Is there a human right to access abortion?
How does the 8th Amendment affect people who plan to continue their pregnancies?
The Referendum
Why is a referendum on the 8th Amendment required?
Can we reform abortion law without a referendum?
What will people be voting on in the referendum?
The Law after Repeal
Will a vote for repeal create a legal vacuum?
Will the Oireachtas be required to legislate for abortion post-repeal?
What will the new abortion legislation say?
What does abortion ‘on request’ up to 12 weeks mean?
When will abortion be legal after 12 weeks?
Would abortion be available in emergency situations?
Will a yes vote lead to abortion ‘up to birth’?
Will ‘the unborn’ be protected after repeal?
What does the proposed new law say about disability?
Will abortion be available on mental health grounds?
Will the proposed law be more liberal than the British Abortion Act 1967?
Will abortion travel still happen after repeal?
Will healthcare professionals be forced to provide abortion against their consciences?
Will abortion still be a crime after repeal?
Will abortion pills be available after repeal?
Will the European Court of Human Rights force Ireland to introduce abortion ‘on demand’?
What are the implications of repeal for crimes against pregnant women?
What are the implications of repeal for medical negligence law?
Will the law on abortion information be changed after repeal?
The Law if the 8th Amendment is not Repealed
Can you publish any figures regarding historical numbers that have travelled outside the state for terminations and a breakdown of the reasons for those terminations?
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Hi Michael: we are answering questions about law here. As this is not a legal question we are not going to answer it specifically, although you will see that in some of our Q&A pages we use the 2016 stats to illustrate some issues with the law as present and predict some potential challenges with the proposed new law (e.g. here: https://aboutthe8th.com/2018/04/06/will-abortion-travel-still-happen-after-repeal/).
However, we are happy to point you towards the information you seek.
The IFPA provides a statistical picture here https://www.ifpa.ie/Hot-Topics/Abortion/Statistics
On abortion pills Prof. Abigail Aiken provides information here: http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/media/committees/eighthamendmentoftheconstitution/Opening-Statement-by-Professor-Abigail-Aiken,-University-of-Texas.pdf
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Can the constitution not be updated to incorporate the new laws regarding abortion? This would give citizens confidence that politicians would not change the law in the future. Provision could be made in the new constitution to allow the Oireachtas to make laws in the future but always in compliance with the original intent of the new constitution.
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Hi Desmond. This was considered at length by the Joint Oireachtas Committee. We discuss the reasons why those sorts of proposals were rightly rejected in Chapter 2 of our book Repealing the 8th (available here) http://oapen.org/search?identifier=641853.
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