Foreign Affairs
Ireland Officially Repeals Constitutional Amendment Banning Abortion
No featured image available
Ireland’s president signed a referendum legalizing abortion Tuesday, meaning women in Ireland will now be able to legally abort if they do not want to have children.
Irish President Michael D. Higgins made the referendum official Tuesday, following the Catholic country’s May 26 vote in favor of legalizing abortion. Previously, Ireland’s Eighth Amendment outlawed and penalized those who attempted or successfully aborted an unborn child.
Prior to the May vote on, Facebook and Google banned all foreign ads related to Ireland’s upcoming referendum on abortion in an effort to deter foreign entities from influencing the vote.
The referendum marks the 36th amendment to Ireland’s constitution.
Ireland’s lawmakers have yet to pass new legislation determining the restrictions the nation will implement, but its leaders have indicated that women will be able to abort up until 12 weeks in pregnancy. Exceptions will be made for women whose lives are in danger by continuing a pregnancy and cases where the unborn baby is not expected to survive, CNN reported Wednesday.
“This is a very important day and I know so many people worked so hard to get to this day,” Health Minister Simon Harris said on Twitter Tuesday. “We now need to bring in the legislation so we can add services to look after women with care and compassion in our own country.”
The 8th amendment is now officially gone from our constitution. So many of you worked so hard to make this a reality. Legislation to Cabinet next week and into Dáil in October pic.twitter.com/PVO1Lw536w
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) September 18, 2018
Ireland’s Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also tweeted about the official change in Irish law.
The Constitution is now officially changed and the 8th is repealed. Govt to pilot through the Dail and Seanad next. We’re ready. https://t.co/3VOnL8oerZ
— Leo Varadkar (@campaignforleo) September 18, 2018
Ireland was one of the last European countries that banned abortion until Tuesday.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].