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[Note: As recommended in the "Welcome to talk.abortion" posting, I am referring to the sides as prolife and prochoice. This is not intended in anyway to reflect my personal feelings on the use of these terms].
Abortion has been illegal in Ireland since at least 1869. The 1983 referendum added a clause which guarantees the "Right to Life" to the Unborn from the moment of conception. The general consensus among the prolife campaigners was that there was now a constitutional prohibition on abortion, and abortion would never be introduced into Ireland.
It was then illegal to give out names & addresses of abortion clinics in Ireland. As a result no imported magazines or newspapers were allowed to sell issues which advertised abortion clinics.
In 1992, the Attorney General placed an injunction against a 14 year old rape victim (Ms. X) going to England to have an abortion. The family of statutory rape victim X had approached the police and offered to let the aborted foetus be used as evidence against the (alleged) rapist. Police then approached the Attorney General who went to the High Court as allowing X to go abroad would breach the "Right to Life" of X's foetus. The High Court then granted the injunction.
In a state of near national hysteria, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling, and declared that under the 1983 amendment, Ms. X was entitled to have an abortion in Ireland as she was threatening to commit suicide. The preliminary verdict was given on Friday, X went to the UK that weekend to have an abortion but miscarried before the abortion actually took place. The full ruling followed on Tuesday suggesting that X has a right to have an abortion in Ireland.
The government moved fairly quickly, and a second referendum was held in November 1992, at the same time as a General election. The referendum consisted of three questions, the Right to travel, the Right to information and the Substansive Issue. While people voted for the right to information and the right to travel, the results from the vote on the Substantive issue were less conclusive, with both sides claiming victory. However, the government has failed to legislate on the basis of the ruling in X.
The governments case was not helped by the Irish Medical Council ruling that any doctor who performs an abortion should be struck of the register, a decision later endorsed by the Irish Medical Organisation. The majority of the IMO regard abortion as unneccessary for life-saving reasons & doctors can be struck off. The Medical Insurance companies (for doctors) believe failure to peform abortion in life threatening circumstance could result in neglience charges etc.
The whole situation is desperately confused and no one knows if abortion is legal or illegal, constitutional or unconstitutional and the government is in no rush to deal with this hot potato. [Note: Abortion is technically legal in the North, but rarely carried out.]