Reform of the deeply flawed 1983 amendment a tall order for Simon Harris

AT THE 1982 Fine Gael ard fheis, hard-line conservative TD Alice Glenn praised her party leader’s support for a pro-life, anti-abortion referendum, should the party be elected into office later that year.

Picture credit: Garret FitzGerald said he regretted his involvement in the 1983 Eighth Amendment referendum; Peter Sutherland expressed grave reservations about the 1983 amendment; Current Health Minister Simon Harris faces the possibility that if he goes too far too quickly on the referendum issue, the anti-abortion side will seize upon any mistake and will scaremonger the country into opposing whatever question is put to the people.

“We in Fine Gael can be very proud in fact, that Dr Garret FitzGerald was the first of our political leaders to accept the legal basis for this amendment,” she declared from the podium.