The Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland specified that the prohibition of abortion would not limit freedom of travel in and out of the state. It was effected by the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1992, which was approved by referendum on 25 November 1992 and signed into law on 23 December of the same year.

Changes to the text

Insertion of a new paragraph in Article 40.3.3º:

This subsection shall not limit freedom to travel between the State and another state.

The subsection relating to abortion had originally been added with the Eighth Amendment in 1983. With the approval of the Thirteenth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment, the full text of Article 40.3.3º read as the follows:

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.

This subsection shall not limit freedom to travel between the State and another state.

This subsection shall not limit freedom to obtain or make available, in the State, subject to such conditions as may be laid down by law, information relating to services lawfully available in another state.

Overview

In Attorney General v. X, commonly known as the "X Case", the Attorney General had secured an injunction in the High Court preventing a 14-year-old girl who had become pregnant from rape from obtaining an abortion. While the Supreme Court reversed this injunction in March 1992, on the grounds that there was a risk to her life from suicide, they held that it would otherwise have been lawful. This amendment addressed this, so that the constitutional protection of unborn life could no longer restrict the freedom to travel.^[1]

On the same day, the Fourteenth Amendment was approved, allowing freedom of access to information with respect to abortion. Another proposal, the Twelfth Amendment, which would have held that the possibility of suicide was not a sufficient threat to justify an abortion, was rejected. These referendums were held on the same date as the 1992 general election.

Passage through the Oireachtas

The Thirteenth Amendment was proposed in the Dáil by Minister for Justice Pádraig Flynn.^[2] It was passed in the Dáil on 22 October and in the Seanad on 30 October.^[3][4] It then proceeded to a referendum on 25 November.

Result

Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland referendum^[5]

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	1,035,308	62.39
No	624,059	37.61
Valid votes	1,659,367	95.71
Invalid or blank votes	74,454	4.29
Total votes	1,733,821	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	2,542,841	68.18

The Deviation column indicates the support for a Yes vote in the constituency relative to the national result.

Potential Repeal

The government has proposed the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018 with a referendum due to be held on 25 May 2018.^[6] If passed, this would replace the current text of Article 40.3.3° with the following text:

Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy.

See also

• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• History of the Republic of Ireland
• Constitutional amendment
• Amendments to the Constitution of Ireland
• Irish constitutional referendum, November 1992
• C Case

References

External links

• Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1992
• Full text of the Constitution of Ireland