Open letter seeks to ‘clarify’ legal implications of Repeal vote

The letter has been signed by 61 people, among them senior academics in law and medicine, solicitors and barristers.

It refers back to the Supreme Court’s recent finding in M (Immigration - Rights of Unborn) -v- Minister for Justice and Equality & ors.

It points out that although an unborn child was found not to possess constitutional rights other than those in Article 40.3.3, the state is still “entitled, through legislation, to give effect to the respect that is due to foetal life as a dimension of the common good”.

This underpins abortion law in countries like Germany, the Czech Republic, Canada and the United States, where “constitutional courts have permitted proportionate interference in women’s reproductive rights in the interests of protecting foetal life for the common good”.

It adds: “Proponents of a No vote in the referendum have argued that we can expect to see an Irish equivalent of the United States Supreme Court’s judgment in Roe v Wade if the Eighth Amendment is repealed.

“What they do not say is that the decision in Roe, and its successor, Planned Parenthood v Casey, permitted states to regulate abortion access. In keeping with these decisions, many American states now have very conservative abortion laws.”

The letter notes that the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 would therefore remain in force following a Repeal vote, and future legislation can still “introduce proportionate restrictions on access to abortion care, in the interests of the common good”.

It concludes: “A Yes vote is a vote to remove the harmful Eighth Amendment from the Constitution, enabling regulation of abortion under law, and access to care at home for Irish women who need it.

“To present matters otherwise is to ignore, or to seek to misrepresent, the reality of the legal regulation of abortion in comparable countries, and the content of our own constitutional law.”