Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2002 (Ireland)

Twenty-fifth Amendment

Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland Bill, 2002

Date

6 March 2002

Results
	Votes	%
Yes	618,485	7001495800000000000♠49.58%
No	629,041	7001504200000000000♠50.42%
Valid votes	1,247,526	7001994700000000000♠99.47%
Invalid or blank votes	6,649	6999530000000000000♠0.53%
Total votes	1,254,175	100.00%
Registered voters/turnout	2,923,918	7001428900000000000♠42.89%

The Twenty-fifth Amendment was a failed attempt to amend the Constitution of Ireland to tighten the constitutional ban on abortion. It would have removed the threat of suicide as a grounds for legal abortion in the state, as well as introducing new penalties for anyone performing an abortion. It was narrowly rejected in the referendum, with 49.6% approval.

The full title of the proposal was the Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy) Bill, 2001. After it was rejected the number 25 was not reused; instead the next successful amendment of the constitution was the "Twenty-sixth Amendment". There has therefore been no successfully enacted "Twenty-fifth Amendment" of the Irish constitution. An earlier proposal called the "Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2001" had already been introduced as a private member's bill by Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin to guarantee Irish neutrality. It had lapsed after its first reading but the existence of that bill necessitated the inclusion of the parenthetical "(Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy)" in the name of the later bill. However, subsequent Constitutional amendments have since included explanatory titles in parentheses.

In 1983 the Eighth Amendment introduced a constitutional ban on abortion in Ireland. The "X Case" in 1992 established the right of Irish women to an abortion if a pregnant woman's life was at risk because of pregnancy, including the risk of suicide. Later in 1992, three separate constitutional amendments on the subject of abortion were put to a vote. One proposed to tighten the law on abortion. The Twelfth Amendment, which would have excluded the risk of suicide as grounds for abortion was rejected. The Thirteenth Amendment, which guaranteed freedom of travel to obtain an abortion abroad, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed access to information, were both approved.

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