Abortion, the Irish Constitution, and constitutional change
| Autor | David Kenny |
| Cargo | Assistant Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland). Ph.D. at Comparative Constitutional Law at Trinity College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland) |
| Páginas | 257-275 |
Licenciado sob uma Licença Creative Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons
Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 5, n. 3, p. 257-275, set./dez. 2018. 257
Revista de Investigações Constitucionais
ISSN 2359-5639
DOI: 10.5380/rinc.v5i3.60967
Abortion, the Irish Constitution, and constitutional change
Aborto, a Constituição irlandesa e mudança constitucional
DAVID KENNY*
Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)
david.kenny@tcd.ie
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3440-1470
Recebido/Received: 12.08.2018 / August 12th, 2018
Aprovado/Approved: 25.08.2018 / August 25th, 2018
Abstract
Abortion in Ireland is regulated by a constitutional pro-
vision that was inserted following a referendum in 1983.
In May 2018, the Irish people, will voted to remove this
provision from the Irish Constitution. In this paper, I ex-
amine the reasons for the insertion of the provision; the
problems that emerged with it over time; the factors that
motivated the campaign for change; and the gradual
process of negotiating a proposed change within the po-
litical system. The paper concludes by drawing general
lessons that might be derived about the about the costs
and consequences of the Irish experience of making
abortion into a matter of constitutional law and debat-
ing its removal. Though somewhat eective in blocking
political opponents, constitutionalising abortion has had
unexpected consequences: creating uncertainty; involv-
ing the judiciary in the regulation of abortion; and per-
haps creating a tendency to elevate social and political
issues to the constitutional level.
Keywords Abortion; constitutional right to life of the
unborn; referendums; constitutional change; citizen-led
constitutional change; judicial power.
Resumo
O aborto na Irlanda é regulado por uma disposição cons-
titucional que foi inserida após um referendo em 1983. Em
maio de 2018, o povo irlandês votará a remoção desta dis-
posição da Constituição irlandesa. Neste artigo, examinam-
se as razões da inserção da provisão; os problemas que sur-
giram com o tempo; os fatores que motivaram a campanha
pela mudança; e o processo gradual de negociação de uma
mudança proposta dentro do sistema político. O artigo con-
clui tirando lições gerais que podem ser derivadas sobre os
custos e consequências da experiência irlandesa de fazer o
aborto em uma questão de direito constitucional e deba-
ter sua remoção. Embora um pouco ecaz no bloqueio de
opositores políticos, a constitucionalização do aborto teve
consequências inesperadas: criando incerteza; envolvendo
o judiciário na regulação do aborto; e talvez criando uma
tendência para elevar questões sociais e políticas ao nível
constitucional.
Palavras-chave: Aborto; direito constitucional à vida do
nascituro; referendos; mudança constitucional; mudança
constitucional liderada pelo cidadão; poder judicial.
Como citar esse artigo/How to cite this article: KENNY, David. Abortion, the Irish Constitution, and constitutional change. Revista
de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 5, n. 3. p. 257-275, set./dez. 2018. DOI: 10.5380/rinc.v5i3.60967.
*Assistant Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland). Ph.D. at Comparative Constitutional Law at Trinity College
Dublin (Dublin, Ireland). LL.M. at Harvard Law School (Cambridge, United States of America). LL.B at Trinity College Dublin
(Dublin, Ireland). BL at The Honorable Society of King’s Inns (Dublin, Ireland). E-mail: david.kenny@tcd.ie.
Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 5, n. 3, p. 117-135, set./dez. 2018.
DAVID KENNY
258 Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 5, n. 3, p. 257-275, set./dez. 2018.
258
CONTENTS
1. Introduction; 2. The Insertion of Article 40.3.3; 3. Article 40.3.3 in practice; 4. Exporting the problem
and the Savita Halappanavar case; 5. The Citizen’s Assembly and the Eighth Amendment Committee; 6.
The Government’s Proposal and the Judicial Review Question; 7. Constitutional Change and Abortion:
Lessons from the Irish Experience; 8. References.
1. INTRODUCTION
Ireland, like Brazil, is a predominantly Catholic country and, like Brazil, has res-
trictive laws on abortion. Ireland, however, has been somewhat more pronounced on
both fronts. Ireland’s Catholic population constitutes 78% of its population as of 2016,
as opposed to around 64% in Brazil, though both countries have seemingly shrinking
populations of practicing Catholics. Whereas Brazilian law currently permits abortion in
cases of threat to life and rape, in Ireland, abortion is permitted only in cases where the
life of the mother is at risk. Both Ireland and Brazil have had high-prole and controver-
sial cases about the restrictiveness of their regimes. In Ireland, for the last thirty years,
this issue has been a matter of constitutional law and politics: this restrictive position
is dictated by Ireland’s constitutional provisions on abortion inserted in 1983: Article
40.3.3, or, as it has come to be known, “the Eighth Amendment”.1
However, political momentum on this question may be moving in somewhat
opposite directions in each place. In response to a Supreme Court ruling suggesting
decriminalisation of the law on constitutional grounds, a constitutional amendment to
entrench even stricter abortion laws is being considered in Brazil, suggesting that, by
judicial or legislative action, abortion in Brazil may become a domestic constitutional
issue.2 In Ireland, on the other hand, constitutional change has just been eected to
remove the issue of abortion from the constitutional framework, and allow substantial
liberalisation of the law. The Irish experiment of constitutionalising the issue has been
the centre of public debate, as the Irish people return this question to the realm of
ordinary politics, while Brazil may be beginning a new era of abortion as a domestic
constitutional question. In this article, I oer an account of the Irish experience of cons-
titutionalisation of abortion, and the debate that led to the recent change, to consider
what broad lessons might be derived from the Irish experience about elevating this
issue to a constitutional level.
1 Irish people do not usually refer to constitutional amendments by their number in this way, but this moniker
took hold in the public debate, even though it is not entirely accurate. What is called the Eighth Amendment is
in fact text created by the Eighth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.
2 Of course, Brazil is a party to the American Convention on Human Rights or Pact of San José, Article 4 of which
provides that life is protected “in general, from the moment of conception.”
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