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It has been suggested that this article be merged with Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1992 and Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland toNovember 1992 Irish constitutional referendums. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2024.
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To specify that the prohibition of abortion would not limit freedom of travel in and out of the state | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1992 (previously bill no. 25 of 1992) is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which specified that the protection of the right to life of the unborn does not limit freedom of travel in and out of the state. It was one of three referendums on abortion held on 25 November 1992. It was approved and signed into law on 23 December of the same year.
On 25 May 2018, a referendum was passed to replace the current provisions on the right to life of the unborn, on travel and on information with a clause allowing legislation on the termination of pregnancy.
The Eighth Amendment in 1983 had added a subsection to the Constitution acknowledging the right of the life of the unborn. 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.[1] 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 not restrict the freedom to travel.
It was one of three amendments put to referendums on 25 November 1992, the same day as a general election. The Twelfth Amendment Bill, which would have held that the possibility of suicide was not a sufficient threat to justify an abortion, was rejected; the Fourteenth Amendment, that the right to life of the unborn would not limit the freedom to obtain information about services outside the state, was approved.
Insertion of a new paragraph in Article 40.3.3°:
This subsection shall not limit freedom to travel between the State and another state.
The subsection relating to abortion had originally been added by the Eighth Amendment in 1983. With the approval of the Thirteenth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment, the full text of Article 40.3.3° 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.
A previous amendment to the constitution had been proposed in a private member's billbyLabour PartyTDBrendan Howlin on 12 May 1992.[2] This proposed to insert the following subsection after Article 40.3.3°:
4° Sub-section 3 of this section shall not be invoked to prohibit or interfere with the exercise of the right—
The provision of such information and counselling may be regulated by law.
- i.to travel to and from the State for the purpose of receiving services lawfully available in other jurisdictions, or
- ii. to obtain, within the State, information and counselling relating to such services.
This was defeated at Second Stage the following day by 62 votes to 67.[3]
The Thirteenth Amendment was proposed in the Dáil by Minister for Justice Pádraig Flynn on 21 October 1992.[4] It was passed in the Dáil on 22 October and in the Seanad on 30 October.[5][6] It proceeded to a referendum on 25 November.
| 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 |
| Constituency | Electorate | Turnout (%) | Votes | Proportion of votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | Yes | No | |||
| Carlow–Kilkenny | 81,192 | 69.2% | 32,818 | 20,479 | 61.6% | 38.4% |
| Cavan–Monaghan | 79,004 | 70.3% | 28,116 | 23,680 | 54.3% | 45.7% |
| Clare | 65,579 | 67.9% | 25,918 | 16,171 | 61.6% | 38.4% |
| Cork East | 58,160 | 71.9% | 21,345 | 18,823 | 53.1% | 46.9% |
| Cork North-Central | 68,209 | 66.6% | 25,456 | 18,440 | 58.0% | 42.0% |
| Cork North-West | 44,578 | 75.4% | 15,524 | 16,171 | 49.0% | 51.0% |
| Cork South-Central | 75,747 | 71.1% | 33,876 | 18,437 | 64.8% | 35.2% |
| Cork South-West | 44,627 | 73.8% | 16,381 | 14,460 | 53.1% | 46.9% |
| Donegal North-East | 46,934 | 67.2% | 12,253 | 17,537 | 41.1% | 58.9% |
| Donegal South-West | 48,494 | 62.1% | 10,933 | 17,382 | 38.6% | 61.4% |
| Dublin Central | 59,941 | 61.3% | 21,957 | 13,617 | 61.7% | 38.3% |
| Dublin North | 62,917 | 69.0% | 32,687 | 9,758 | 77.0% | 23.0% |
| Dublin North-Central | 64,349 | 71.7% | 30,826 | 14,316 | 68.3% | 31.7% |
| Dublin North-East | 57,888 | 69.6% | 29,742 | 9,947 | 74.9% | 25.1% |
| Dublin North-West | 57,951 | 65.3% | 25,640 | 11,374 | 69.3% | 30.7% |
| Dublin South | 84,767 | 70.4% | 45,734 | 12,888 | 78.0% | 22.0% |
| Dublin South-Central | 63,316 | 64.5% | 27,987 | 12,015 | 70.0% | 30.0% |
| Dublin South-East | 68,366 | 58.9% | 27,966 | 11,417 | 71.0% | 29.0% |
| Dublin South-West | 69,654 | 61.9% | 32,154 | 10,077 | 76.1% | 23.9% |
| Dublin West | 57,755 | 65.0% | 26,112 | 10,682 | 71.0% | 29.0% |
| Dún Laoghaire | 85,924 | 68.8% | 46,769 | 11,269 | 80.6% | 19.4% |
| Galway East | 42,604 | 68.9% | 15,459 | 11,847 | 56.6% | 43.4% |
| Galway West | 78,539 | 63.8% | 30,048 | 17,308 | 63.4% | 36.6% |
| Kerry North | 48,606 | 69.7% | 16,732 | 14,951 | 52.8% | 47.2% |
| Kerry South | 44,034 | 70.2% | 16,028 | 12,464 | 56.3% | 43.7% |
| Kildare | 77,798 | 65.3% | 35,503 | 13,907 | 71.8% | 28.2% |
| Laois–Offaly | 77,226 | 70.2% | 28,903 | 22,213 | 56.5% | 43.5% |
| Limerick East | 71,004 | 68.6% | 28,774 | 18,143 | 61.3% | 38.7% |
| Limerick West | 44,768 | 71.4% | 15,289 | 14,508 | 51.3% | 48.7% |
| Longford–Roscommon | 60,452 | 74.8% | 23,079 | 18,953 | 54.9% | 45.1% |
| Louth | 65,666 | 67.3% | 25,330 | 17,335 | 59.4% | 40.6% |
| Mayo East | 43,392 | 68.0% | 15,094 | 12,232 | 55.2% | 44.8% |
| Mayo West | 43,407 | 68.4% | 16,332 | 11,140 | 59.4% | 40.6% |
| Meath | 77,900 | 66.0% | 32,099 | 17,434 | 64.8% | 35.2% |
| Sligo–Leitrim | 60,675 | 70.5% | 22,573 | 17,314 | 56.6% | 43.4% |
| Tipperary North | 42,633 | 75.0% | 16,103 | 13,872 | 53.7% | 46.3% |
| Tipperary South | 56,705 | 70.3% | 20,064 | 18,000 | 52.7% | 47.3% |
| Waterford | 63,692 | 67.8% | 25,879 | 15,589 | 62.4% | 37.6% |
| Westmeath | 46,128 | 67.1% | 16,494 | 12,892 | 56.1% | 43.9% |
| Wexford | 75,553 | 69.6% | 30,644 | 19,331 | 61.3% | 38.7% |
| Wicklow | 76,707 | 67.9% | 34,687 | 15,686 | 68.9% | 31.1% |
| Total | 2,542,841 | 68.2% | 1,035,308 | 624,059 | 62.4% | 37.6% |
On 25 May 2018, the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution was passed by referendum.[9] It was enacted on 18 September 2018, replacing the previous text of Article 40.3.3° with:[10]
3° Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy.
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