Irish trade unions have launched a campaign for a referendum to abolish an amendment to the Irish constitution that pro-choice campaigners say prevents serious reform of strict anti-abortion laws.

The leaders of some of the country’s biggest unions gathered on a bridge over the river Liffey in Dublin on Wednesday morning to call for the repeal of the eighth amendment, which gives an unborn child the right to life, for the first time since it was passed more than three decades ago.



The amendment was introduced through a referendum in 1983. Ireland’s then politically influential anti-abortion lobby, in alliance with the Catholic church, forced the Fine Gael-Labour coalition to hold a national vote to in effect make an embryo into an Irish citizen. It passed with 67% voting in favour.

Pro-choice groups say the amendment creates a legal “chill factor” among medical teams, even in cases where a recent law allows for terminations in very limited circumstances, such as when continuing with a pregnancy would result in the woman’s death or in cases where she is suicidal.

At the Rosie Hackett bridge, named after a prominent 20th-century Irish revolutionary feminist and trade unionist, the country’s trade union leadership said it was time to give a new generation of Irish voters a chance to overhaul Ireland’s anti-abortion laws.



Mary Diskin, a spokeswoman for the Trade Union Campaign to Repeal the Eighth Amendment, said: “Abortion is a reality in Ireland: between 1980 and 2014, at least 163,514 women registered for terminations abroad; many others gave no personal details.”



She said the near total abortion ban hit lower-paid women hardest given that it costs up to €3,000 to travel to Britain for a termination.



Diskin said it was the duty of unions to campaign against “the cruelty to women that they have to leave this jurisdiction for a service that is available throughout the world but not available here in Ireland”.



Unite’s regional secretary, Jimmy Kelly, said: “Last year, over 3,400 women travelled from the Irish Republic to Britain to access abortion. As a pro-choice union, Unite has consistently argued that the eighth amendment must be repealed as a first step to enabling women to access safe, legal and affordable terminations in Ireland.”



However, Kelly expressed some doubt that the Fine Gael-led minority government was strong enough to push through legislation that would lead to a new referendum on the issue.



“Every issue seems now to be affected by this government being propped up by Fianna Fáil and I wouldn’t be hopeful that they make the move that we need made to repeal the eighth. It will probably happen in the next government,” he said.