November 1992 Irish constitutional referendums

Three referendums were held in Ireland on 25 November 1992, the same day as the 1992 general election. Each was on a proposed amendment of the Irish constitution relating to the law on abortion. They were enumerated as the Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The proposed Twelfth Amendment was rejected by voters while both the Thirteenth and Fourteenth were approved.

Background
The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution was approved in a referendum in 1983. It inserted a new sub-section in section 3 of Article 40. The resulting Article 40.3.3° read:

The proposed Twelfth and Thirteenth Amendments were held to reverse differing elements of the Supreme Court's decision in the X case in which the Supreme Court held that a risk of suicide by a pregnant woman could constitute a risk to her health which would justify an abortion, and that the courts had to power to grant an injunction preventing a pregnant woman from travelling abroad for an abortion. The Fourteenth Amendment also related to abortion and was introduced to reverse decision by the courts in the abortion information cases. In these cases — beginning with Attorney-General (Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child) v Open Door Counselling Ltd. — the courts had granted injunctions preventing individuals from distributing contact information for foreign abortion clinics.

Twelfth Amendment Bill
The Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1992 proposed that the possibility of suicide was not a sufficient threat to justify an abortion. The wording of the proposed amendment was:

Thirteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution provided that the prohibition of abortion would not limit freedom of travel from Ireland to other countries where a person might legally obtain an abortion. The wording of the proposed amendment was:

Fourteenth Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution proposed: