Zappone had said that she believed the 8th Amendment should be repealed, and that abortion should be available in Ireland. She was initially the only member of cabinet to have unequivocally spoken out in favour of repeal of the Eighth and legalisation of abortion, arguing that the 8th Amendment "oppresses us with the burden of choicelessness", and that "as long as the Constitution treats a foetus as equal to a woman, her autonomy can be nothing more than a myth". In December 2017, she gave a lecture at Dublin City University, in which she argued for the full repeal of the 8th Amendment and the introduction of "safe, legal and freely available" abortion including abortion on request up to at least 12 weeks.