Home

Church of Ireland Home

Press Releases

Statement from the Standing Committee of the Church of Ireland to the Citizens’ Assembly regarding the Eighth Amendment

The Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland approved the following statement, at its meeting on Tuesday (22nd November), for submission on behalf of the Church of Ireland to the Citizens’ Assembly in the Republic of Ireland.  The statement relates to the Assembly’s consideration of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution:

‘While the Church of Ireland has consistently expressed the view that abortion should be confined to situations of strict and undeniable medical necessity, it has also since 1983 publicly questioned the wisdom of addressing such complex moral problems by means of amendments to the Constitution.

‘Indeed unfolding events and a range of tragic human cases over the past three decades have demonstrated the deficiencies of the constitutional approach. However, we would wish to emphasise that to review or question the value of the Eighth Amendment at this time is not by implication to call for easy access to abortion. Rather, it is to suggest that those complex and hopefully rare situations in which medical necessity might require termination of pregnancy would be more suitably addressed through nuanced legislation. The Church of Ireland offers its good wishes and prayers to the Assembly in its weighty duty of striving to find a way forward in this sensitive matter, so that the rights of both mothers and the unborn may be duly balanced and careful reflection may take place regarding the place of the Constitution in addressing complex moral and social matters.’

Church of Ireland Press Office


Tel: (028/048) 9082 8880
Duty mobile: +44 (0)7774 295 369

Our use of cookies

Some cookies are necessary for us to manage how our website behaves while other optional, or non-necessary, cookies help us to analyse website usage. You can Accept All or Reject All optional cookies or control individual cookie types below.

You can read more in our Cookie Notice

Functional

These cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Analytics cookies

Analytical cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage.