| 1861 |
Offences Against the Person Act.
Abortion became a criminal offence.
Article 58
Every woman being with child, who with
intent to procure her own miscarriage shall unlawfully administer to
herself any poison or other noxious thing.....and whomsoever, with
intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman whether she be or be not
with child shall unlawfully administer to her or cause to be taken by
her any poison or other noxious thing....with the like intent shall be
guilty of a felon, and being convicted thereof shall be liable......to
be kept in penal servitude for life.
Article 59
[W]homsoever shall unlawfully supply or procure any poison or other
noxious thing......knowing that the same is intended to be unlawfully
used or employed with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman
whether she be or not be with child, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour,
and being convicted thereof shall be liable to be kept in penal
servitude for the term of three years.
|
| 1983 |
Amendment to the Constitution
Article 40.3.3
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.
|
| 1986 - 1991 |
The Information Cases
The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child took a
series of court actions agianst Dublin Well Woman, Open Door
Counselling and three students' unions to prevent them from providing
women with abortion information. In 1986 Hamilton J. determined such
information provision to be in breach of Article 40.3.3, and this was
confirmed by the Supreme Court two years later. In 1991, the European
Court of Justice ruled that students unions could be barred from giving
out information on abortion because they had no financial link with
abortion clinics in England. Subsequently the Irish Government entered
a Protocol to the Maastricht Treaty removing the issue from the
jurisdiction of EC law.
|
| 1992 |
(Feb). The X Case.
A fourteen-year-old rape victim was prevented by High
Court injunction from travelling to England for an abortion. Following
public outcry, the Supreme Court overturned the decision, ruling that
"if it is
established . . . that there is a real and substantial risk to the
life, as distinct from the health, of the mother, which can only be
avoided by the termination of her pregnancy, such termination is
permissible." It was judged that the girl presented a suicide risk if
forced to continue with the pregnancy; termination would have been
permissable even in Ireland. If there had been no such risk, the
provision of information to the girl and possibly the girl's right to
travel could have been blocked.
|
| 1992 |
(Oct). The European Court of Human Rights.
Folllowing an appeal by Open Door Counselling and the Well
Woman, the European Court found the ban on abortion information to be
in breach of Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights,
which guarantees freedom of expression. As it prohibited the provision
of information to anyone, including child victims of rape, it was
'overbroad and disproportionate'. The Supreme Court did not follow this
decision in 1993, choosing instead to uphold the injunctions.
|
| 1992 |
(Nov). The Travel and Information Referenda.
Three referenda were voted on, the first two passing
successfully and amending Article 40.3.3 so that the rights of a
pregnant woman to travel and gain information were safeguarded.
Subsection 3 of 40.3.3 "shall not limit freedom ot travel between the
State and another state...[It] shall not limit freedom to obtain or
make available, in the State, subject to conditions as may be laid down
by law, information relating to services lawfully available in another
state." The third referendum did not go through. It would have
restricted the 'X case test' to cases where the woman's life was
endangered by illness or disorder, but not by a risk of suicide.
|
| 1995 |
Regulation of Information Act.
This Act laid down the conditions in which information
could be provided on abortion. The Supreme Court ruled that it was
constitutional as it protected both the rights of the unborn and the
mother under Article 40.3.3. Unspecified rights of the unborn could not
be invoked to counter the will of the people expressed in 1992.
|
| 1996 |
The Constitution Review Group.
The Review Group issued a Report on the Constitution in
which they recommended that legislation should be introduced to
implement the X judgement and specify under which conditions abortion
could be carried out lawfully. Anti-abortion campaigners rejected this
recommendation.
|
| 1997 |
(March). The Students' Union Appeal.
The Supreme Court lifted the injuctions against the
students' unions for conflicting reasons. Denham and Keane JJ argued
that the 1988 Supreme Court decision had been wrong as it failed to put
adequate emphasis on the mother's right to life; while Hamilton and
Blayney JJ said that the injunctions were originally valid but could no
longer be upheld due to the law change in November 1992 and the
Regulation of Information Act. Meanwhile the anti-abortion campaign
continued to demand a referendum which would have completely outlawed
'direct' abortion.
|
| 1998 |
Abortion Working Group.
When a 13-year-old girl, in
the care of the Eastern Health Board, became pregnant as a result of
rape, she became subject to District Court proceedings as she sought to
leave the state for an abortion in England. The original proceedings
did not relate to the abortion but to her leaving the juridiction while
under a care order. Her father, who had originally supported her,
became influenced by anti-abortion groups. Ultimately the High Court
decided that as Miss C was likely to commit suicide if forced to
continue with the pregnancy, she was entitled to an abortion in
Ireland. Since an abortion would not have been unconstitutional in the
State, it was permitted to leave the State to have the procedure. The
implication was that another person who was the subject of a care order
and was not a suicide risk could be prevented from leaving the State for an abortion. Opinion polls showed widespread sympathy for Miss C.
Following the C case, the government set up an 'Inter-Departmental Working Group on
Abortion'. A Green Paper was promised for 'late summer 1998'.
|
| 1999 |
Green Paper on Abortion.
Published in September 1999, this outlined seven options:
- Absolute Constitutional Ban on Abortion.
- Amendment of the Constitutional Provisions so as to restrict the Application of the X Case.
- Retention of the Status quo.
- Retention of the Constitutional Status quo with Legislative Restatement of the Prohibition on Abortion.
- Legislation to regulate Abortion in circumstances defined in the X Case.
- Reversion to the pre-1983 position.
- Permitting Abortion on grounds beyond those specified in the X Case:
- Risk to Physical/Mental Health of Mother
- Abortion for Women Pregnant as a result of Rape or Incest
- Congenital Malformations
- Abortion for Economic or Social Reasons
- Abortion on Request.
|
| 2000 |
All Party Oireachtas Committee
Medical practitioners, special interest groups and faith
groups addressed the Committee during May, June and July. Only the
views of women who had directly experienced Irish abortion were not
heard.
|
| 2001 |
(October).
At the end of a five year consultation, the government announced
plans to for a referendum which would reverse the 1992 X Case ruling.
It also announced the formation of a Crisis Pregnancy Agency.
|
| 2002 |
The Twenty-Fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy Bill).
Defeated on the 6th of March by a narrow margin - 49.58% voted yes and 50.42% voted no. Turnout was 42.89%.
|
| 2003 |
The Labour Party issued its Wrynn Report on abortion.
The twentieth anniversary of the 1983 abortion referendum was marked by
an Alliance for Choice event which called for the repeal of article
40.3.3 from the Constitution. The Crisis Pregnancy Agency, which had
just suffered a funding cut, launched the State's first strategy to
address the issue of crisis pregancy on November 12th.
|
| 2005 |
Three women took
Ireland to the European Court of Human Rights, supported by the Family
Planning Association, to argue that Irish abortion law 'jeopardises
their health and well-being'.
|
| 2007 |
The Miss D case.
A 17-year-old girl, on being informed by doctors four
months into her pregancy that her baby could not survive more than a
few days after birth, campaigned for her right to travel abroad for an
abortion. A psychiatrist appointed by the HSE determined that Miss D
was distressed but not suicidal, and therefore could not be allowed the
abortion. The High Court ruled in early May that there were no
statutory or constitutional grounds for preventing her from travelling
to Britain.
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