The issue of abortion has been the subject of intense and divisive debate in Ireland over the last two decades.
In 1983, following a vigorous campaign by a number of antiabortion groups who wanted a specific constitutional ban on abortion, the voters endorsed the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. This became Article 40.3.3 and stated: "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."
Following the amendment a number of cases came before the courts concerning its interpretation. They dealt largely with the provision of information on or referral to abortion services available in other countries.
The amendment was further challenged in 1992 with the X case, which arose when a 14-year-old Dublin girl became pregnant as a result of rape.
Both the girl and her parents wished to travel abroad so that she could have an abortion. The issue of having scientific tests carried out on foetal tissue to determine paternity was raised with the Garda, and the Director of Public Prosecutions was consulted.
The DPP, in turn, informed the then attorney general, Mr Harry Whelehan, and an ad interim injunction was obtained to restrain the girl from leaving the State or from arranging or carrying out a termination of the pregnancy. In the High Court Mr Justice Costello granted an interlocutory injunction along the same lines, and the case was appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that if it were established as a matter of probability that there was "a real and substantial risk" to the life, as distinct to the health, of the mother and that this risk could be averted only by the termination of her pregnancy, such a termination was lawful.
The court accepted the evidence of the High Court that the girl had threatened to commit suicide if she was forced to carry her baby to full term. It deemed that this threat of suicide constituted a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother. The decision in the X case gave rise to a number of concerns. One was that the Supreme Court had found that under Article 40.3.3 abortion could be lawful where it was necessary to prevent a risk to the life of the mother.
There were also concerns about the possible abuse of suicide risks as grounds for obtaining an abortion, and concerns over the provision of abortion information and the right to travel abroad for abortion. In 1992 three new amendments to the Constitution were put to the people. Two of the amendments - one allowing for travel for abortion and another allowing for the provision of abortion information - were passed.
The third amendment was rejected by two-thirds of the electorate. It read: "It shall be unlawful to terminate the life of an unborn unless such termination is necessary to save the life, as distinct from the health, of the mother where there is an illness or disorder of the mother giving rise to a real and substantial risk to her life, not being a risk of self-destruction."
During the last election campaign the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, promised a new amendment would be put to the people.
A Cabinet committee to oversee the drafting of a Green Paper on abortion was established following the C case in 1997. This case involved a 13-year-old who had been raped and was pregnant as a result. The Eastern Health Board secured an order from the District Court allowing it to take the girl abroad for an abortion. The girl's parents challenged the order in the High Court, which decided the case along the same lines as the X case.