Pro-choice groups to call for clearer legislation on abortion

Calls for clarification of the law on abortion will be renewed next month as pro-choice groups mark the 20th anniversary of the first abortion referendum.

As the anniversary falls, on September 7th, the number of women giving Irish addresses when seeking abortions in Britain stands at about 7,000 per year, compared with about 3,600 in 1983.

The 1983 referendum, which was passed by 73 per cent, resulted in the insertion into the Constitution of Article 40.3.3. It reads: "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."

Interpretation of the Article became the focus of public debate in 1992, when the X case led to a Supreme Court decision that when the threat of suicide posed a "real and substantial risk" to the life of the mother, a termination was lawful. Amendments proposed by two previous governments to roll back the X case judgment were defeated in referendums in 1992 and 2002.

Alliance for Choice, which grew out of the Alliance for a No Vote in last year's defeated abortion referendum, is gathering reflections from people who took part in the campaigns, for publication in Dublin on September 5th.

Ms Ivana Bacik, Reid Professor of Law at Trinity College and member of Alliance for Choice, said next month's events were part of a longer-term campaign seeking "a more liberal approach to the issue of abortion".

Ms Alison Begas, chief executive of the Well Woman Centre, said there needed to be "clarification of the gap between legislation and the Supreme Court judgment in the X case".