What is the 8th Amendment?
The 8th Amendment was inserted into the Constitution in 1983.The Amendment equates the life of a pregnant woman with that of an embryo or foetus. It states that:
‘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’.
It led directly to death of at least one woman, Savita Halappanavar, because doctors refused to break the law and give her an emergency abortion to save her life. It has also made it difficult for doctors to act to save women’s lives more generally.
What is the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act (2013)?
The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act was enacted in 2013. Its stated aim was to ensure abortion access in cases in which pregnancy endangers the pregnant person’s life.
However, as Amnesty International noted:
‘Neither the Act nor related guidance published in September 2014 provided sufficient assistance to medical professionals in assessing when a pregnancy posed such a risk to life, or adequately protected the rights of the pregnant woman or girl’.
Under the Act, abortion in cases in which the pregnant person’s life is not considered by a specialist doctor to be at risk is criminalised, with up to a 14-year prison sentence.
In June 2017, the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled for the second time that Ireland’s abortion laws violate the human rights of women and subject them to ‘cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment’.