Repealed the Eighth.
Almost four months after the Irish public voted in large numbers to repeal the Eighth Amendment, first introduced by referendum in 1983, President Michael D. Higgins has signed a bill formally repealing the eighth.
The formalisation of the referendum result was stayed by a handful of legal cases which sought to challenge the result of the referendum — all of which were dismissed.
The amendment, which amounted to a constitutional ban on abortion, was the subject of an enormous grassroots movement of Irish citizens who sought to repeal it. A tense referendum campaign eventually came to a head in May 2018 and almost 67% of the Irish electorate resoundingly voted for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment.
The government will now begin work on introducing legislation that will provide for abortion services to be made available in Ireland. Minister for Health Simon Harris has said that he expects such legislation will be enacted by 2019.
It is expected that legislation to facilitate abortion will be introduced during the first week in October.
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