A woman who received a diagnosis of a fatal foetal abnormality has urged voters to repeal the Eighth Amendment and stop what she described as abandoning pregnant women.

Gaye Edwards and her husband, Gerry, were addressing the launch of the Together for Yes campaign, which wants to amend the Constitution to allow abortion. Ms Edwards said the couple were coming up to their first wedding anniversary when she learned she was pregnant. But 20 weeks in they were told that their baby would have no prospect of survival after birth and that their only option was to continue with the pregnancy until the child was born.

Ms Edwards said they were shown care and compassion in the UK but felt abandoned by their own country. “I have often wondered, in the 17 years since, if I had spoken out earlier, if I put my name and face out there earlier, would we be where we are now,” she said. “It haunts me that there are women going through this today, who are currently getting the news that I did, and nothing has changed.”

The couple, who suffered five more miscarriages, now have four children.

Mr Edwards, who told the launch that he had never thought about abortion or the Eighth Amendment until it affected him and his family, said the couple had to travel to another jurisdiction to allow their son to die. “We have our own two teenage daughters now, and we don’t want them or any Irish women to have to travel to another jurisdiction for the care that they should be receiving in their own country.”