Aspects of Article 40.3.3: The Right to Life.

Protecting Human Life. (Extract from a Statement of the Irish Bishops, March 2018)

"We invite your attention to a number of aspects of Article 40.3.3, which we believe to be significant:

[1] In this Article, the State does not "concede" the right to life to the unborn, but "acknowledges" that right as a fundamental right, which belongs to the unborn by virtue of his or her being a person. A person is an individual member of the human family, to use the description given in the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

[2] Article 40.3.3 describes the right to life of the unborn as "equal" to the right to life of the mother. It quite rightly does not place the right to life of the unborn above that of the mother.

[3] Article 40.3.3 does not guarantee, in all circumstances, to be able to defend and vindicate the right to life of the unborn, any more than it can in the case of people who are born and living in our towns and villages. The State does, however, guarantee to "respect" the right to life of the unborn in its laws, just as it does in the case of other persons.

The right to life is unique, of course, because, in the absence of that right, no other civil or natural right can be exercised, either now or in the future."