Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution of Ireland provides:
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.
The School of Law and the Institute for the Study of Knowledge in Society at Univeristy of Limerick are sponsoring a one-day conference on March 8, 2008 on “25 Years of Protection? Article 40.3.3 and Abortion in Ireland.” Details available here.
For background on the issue, I recommend Lisa Smyth’s Abortion And Nation: The Politics Of Reproduction In Contemporary Ireland (2005).
-Bridget Crawford
