# Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1992

The Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1992 (bill no. 24 of 1992) was a rejected proposal to amend the Constitution of Ireland to exclude the risk of suicide as sufficient reason to legally allow an abortion. It was one of three referendums on abortion held on 25 November 1992, the date of the 1992 general election. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments were approved. As these could not be renamed, there has been no enacted Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution.

## Proposed changes to the text

Proposed insertion of additional text to Article 40.3.3°:

## Background

The Eighth Amendment passed in 1983 added the following text to the Constitution as Article 40.3.3°:
In March 1992, the Supreme Court held in the X Case that a 14-year-old girl who had become pregnant as a result of rape could obtain an abortion in circumstances where there was a threat to her life from suicide. This amendment proposed that the possibility of suicide was not a sufficient threat to justify an abortion. The proposal was put to a referendum on 25 November 1992 but was rejected.
On the same day, the Thirteenth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment were approved by referendum. The former guaranteed freedom of travel abroad to obtain an abortion, and the latter, access to information in Ireland with respect to the same issue. The 1992 general election was held on the same date.

## Passage through the Oireachtas

The Twelfth Amendment Bill was proposed in the Dáil by Minister for Justice Pádraig Flynn. The Amendment was approved by the Dáil on 27 October 1992:
Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1992: Final Stages. Absolute majority: 83/166 :
| Vote | Parties | Votes |
| Y Yes | Fianna Fáil (63), Progressive Democrats (5) | 68 / 166 |
| No | Fine Gael (35), Labour Party (13), Democratic Left (6), Green Party (1), Independent (2) | 57 / 166 |
Fianna Fáil Senator Des Hanafin, a member of the Pro Life Campaign (PLC), did not vote for the government wording. He proposed an amendment at committee stage proposing the wording supported by the PLC:
This wording was not voted on, and the bill was approved by the Seanad on 30 October 1992.
Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1992: Final Stages. Absolute majority: 31/60 :
| Vote | Parties | Votes |
| Y Yes | Fianna Fáil (26) | 26 / 60 |
| No | Fine Gael (11), Labour Party (2), Independent (3) | 17 / 60 |

## Result

The amendment was put to a referendum on 25 November, where it was rejected.
Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland Bill 1992 :
| Choice | Votes | % |
| No | 1,079,297 | 65.35 |
| Yes | 572,177 | 34.65 |
| Valid votes | 1,651,474 | 95.28 |
| Invalid or blank votes | 81,835 | 4.72 |
| Total votes | 1,733,309 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 2,542,841 | 68.16 |
Results by constituency :
| Constituency | Electorate | Turnout (%) | Votes | Votes | Proportion of votes | Proportion of votes |
| Constituency | Electorate | Turnout (%) | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Carlow–Kilkenny | 81,192 | 69.2% | 20,130 | 32,900 | 38.0% | 62.0% |
| Cavan–Monaghan | 79,004 | 70.3% | 20,494 | 31,290 | 39.6% | 60.4% |
| Clare | 65,579 | 67.9% | 15,504 | 26,251 | 37.1% | 62.9% |
| Cork East | 58,160 | 71.9% | 12,684 | 27,210 | 31.8% | 68.2% |
| Cork North-Central | 68,209 | 66.6% | 13,876 | 30,024 | 31.6% | 68.4% |
| Cork North-West | 44,578 | 75.4% | 9,346 | 22,225 | 29.6% | 70.4% |
| Cork South-Central | 75,747 | 71.1% | 16,862 | 35,224 | 32.4% | 67.6% |
| Cork South-West | 44,627 | 73.8% | 9,954 | 20,638 | 32.5% | 67.5% |
| Donegal North-East | 46,934 | 67.3% | 8,313 | 21,496 | 27.9% | 72.1% |
| Donegal South-West | 48,494 | 62.2% | 8,623 | 19,666 | 30.5% | 69.5% |
| Dublin Central | 59,941 | 61.3% | 11,557 | 23,922 | 32.6% | 67.4% |
| Dublin North | 62,917 | 69.0% | 16,037 | 26,309 | 37.9% | 62.1% |
| Dublin North-Central | 64,349 | 71.8% | 14,302 | 30,815 | 31.7% | 68.3% |
| Dublin North-East | 57,888 | 69.7% | 14,329 | 25,220 | 36.2% | 63.8% |
| Dublin North-West | 57,951 | 65.3% | 12,485 | 24,251 | 34.0% | 66.0% |
| Dublin South | 84,767 | 70.5% | 15,976 | 42,424 | 27.4% | 72.6% |
| Dublin South-Central | 63,316 | 64.4% | 12,656 | 27,164 | 31.8% | 68.2% |
| Dublin South-East | 68,366 | 58.9% | 10,361 | 29,097 | 26.3% | 73.7% |
| Dublin South-West | 69,654 | 61.9% | 16,832 | 25,330 | 39.9% | 60.1% |
| Dublin West | 57,755 | 65.0% | 14,461 | 22,258 | 39.4% | 60.6% |
| Dún Laoghaire | 85,924 | 68.7% | 17,284 | 40,503 | 29.9% | 70.1% |
| Galway East | 42,604 | 68.8% | 10,364 | 16,832 | 38.1% | 61.9% |
| Galway West | 78,539 | 63.7% | 15,557 | 31,337 | 33.2% | 66.8% |
| Kerry North | 48,606 | 69.6% | 9,885 | 21,464 | 31.5% | 68.5% |
| Kerry South | 44,034 | 70.1% | 10,370 | 17,861 | 36.7% | 63.3% |
| Kildare | 77,798 | 65.3% | 19,187 | 29,873 | 39.1% | 60.9% |
| Laois–Offaly | 77,226 | 70.2% | 18,915 | 31,947 | 37.2% | 62.8% |
| Limerick East | 71,004 | 68.6% | 14,799 | 31,800 | 31.8% | 68.2% |
| Limerick West | 44,768 | 71.3% | 9,086 | 20,581 | 30.6% | 69.4% |
| Longford–Roscommon | 60,452 | 74.9% | 16,155 | 25,701 | 38.6% | 61.4% |
| Louth | 65,666 | 67.3% | 16,509 | 25,999 | 38.8% | 61.2% |
| Mayo East | 43,392 | 68.0% | 10,055 | 17,044 | 37.1% | 62.9% |
| Mayo West | 43,407 | 68.4% | 11,009 | 16,165 | 40.5% | 59.5% |
| Meath | 77,900 | 66.0% | 19,570 | 29,688 | 39.7% | 60.3% |
| Sligo–Leitrim | 60,675 | 70.5% | 14,817 | 24,887 | 37.3% | 62.7% |
| Tipperary North | 42,633 | 74.9% | 10,102 | 19,693 | 33.9% | 66.1% |
| Tipperary South | 56,705 | 70.3% | 12,713 | 24,952 | 33.7% | 66.3% |
| Waterford | 63,692 | 67.7% | 13,372 | 27,852 | 32.4% | 67.6% |
| Westmeath | 46,128 | 67.0% | 10,901 | 18,340 | 37.3% | 62.7% |
| Wexford | 75,553 | 69.6% | 18,421 | 31,371 | 37.0% | 63.0% |
| Wicklow | 76,707 | 67.8% | 18,324 | 31,693 | 36.6% | 63.4% |
| Total | 2,542,841 | 68.2% | 572,177 | 1,079,297 | 34.7% | 65.3% |

## Later developments

No legislation was enacted in the aftermath of this defeated referendum. In 2002, the proposed Twenty-fifth Amendment would have similarly excluded the risk of suicide as grounds for an abortion. On this occasion, the government proposal did have the support of the Pro Life Campaign. This too was rejected in a referendum, but by a much narrower margin.
The European Court of Human Rights found against the state in A, B and C v Ireland (2010). The government responded to this with the enactment of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, which provided for abortion in the cases where there was a risk to the life of the woman, including from a risk of suicide.