When people talk about the ‘abortion question’, what they generally mean is something like this: how should we balance the protection of unborn human life against the rights and interests of a pregnant woman to control her own body? Possibly, they also have in mind a further important (but analytically distinct) issue: how should law (criminal or otherwi…
The 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution was ratified in 1983,1and provides—in the form of Article 40.3.3—that: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.At first glance, the 8th Amendment may seem innocuo…