- Culture
- 08 Mar 18
The Cabinet has approved the bill that will allow for a referendum on the Eight Amendment to be held this May.
Speaking outside Government Buildings earlier today, Minister for Health Simon Harris said that it was appropriate that this decision was taken on International Women’s Day.
The minister also said that repeal was necessary to deliver change and confirmed that said he would be campaigning vigorously.
Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan, Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan and Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton also said they would campaign for repeal.
The bill lays out the framework for the referendum, which will ask people whether they want to retain the Eighth Amendment or delete it from the Constitution and insert the following wording: "That provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy."
According to RTE, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: "On my first day as Taoiseach I committed to holding a referendum this year. The matter has been considered by the Citizens' Assembly and a cross-party Oireachtas committee.
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"The Cabinet has now taken the next important step which paves the way to holding a referendum in the summer.
"This referendum is about asking our citizens to allow women to make major decisions for themselves.
"It's about trusting women to decide, in the early weeks of their pregnancy, what's right for them and their families. And it's about trusting our doctors to decide when continuing with a pregnancy is a risk to the life or health of a woman."