Family & Life

Conference on Irish Constitutional Protection of Unborn Hears of ‘Positive... : 19th Mar 08

Art. 40.3.3.—"It speaks in positive terms, rather than negative ones: the State must protect, respect and vindicate the right to life of the unborn child"

The State is not fulfilling its constitutional duty in relation to our abortion laws, a conference marking the 25th anniversary of the pro-life amendment to the Irish Constitution has heard. The School of Law at the University of Limerick hosted the multidisciplinary conference on Saturday to mark the 25th anniversary of the insertion of Article 40.3.3 into the Irish Constitution.

Article 40.3.3 acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and is the provision of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life of the unborn in this country.

The one-day conference was held to assess the impact that this provision has had on Irish society, law, politics and healthcare.

Conference Organiser Jennifer Schweppe, School of Law at UL, said that the issues which have arisen over the past 25 years in the context of this provision, have not purely been legal ones, but also include psychological, social, political, ethical and medical issues which needed to be addressed in tandem with each other.

"Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, the fact is that Article 40.3.3 currently forms a part of our law. The only conclusion to be made is that the State is abjectly failing to fulfil its constitutional duty in this regard. It must be accepted that the Article is more than simply a constitutional prohibition on abortion. It speaks in positive terms, rather than negative ones: the State must protect, respect and vindicate the right to life of the unborn child," said Ms Sharpe.

"However, the vagueness of the terms of the provision, coupled with an absence of statutory guidelines on how the right to life of the unborn child is to be protected in Irish law, has led to a myriad of problems, which have to be addressed by the courts on a case-by-case basis."
According to Ms Sharpe, a lecturer in law at UL, it is inexcusable that 16 years after the X case and 11 years since the C case, we still rely on an Act from 1861 to govern the law on termination of pregnancies in this State.
"This problem was highlighted in the recent Miss D case. Without clear legislative guidelines, doctors, lawyers and healthcare workers simply do not know what to do when assessing the, sometimes competing, rights of the mother and the unborn child," she said.

Also speaking at the weekend conference was Professor William Binchy, from Trinity College, Dublin, and legal advisor to the pro-life campaign, who presented a paper entitled: Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution: Respecting the Dignity and Equal Worth of Human Beings. According to Professor Binchy, Article 40.3.3 has had a consistent regard for the equality of life of every human being. However he added that he believed the courts have not always understood this. The Irish Times. March 10.

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Family & Life

Conference on Irish Constitutional Protection of Unborn Hears of ‘Positive... : 19th Mar 08

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