ABSTRACT
This chapter will consider the Oireachtas debates on the proposed Eighth Amendment in 1983, aimed at recognizing citizenship rights for 'the unborn'. As Chapter Four has illustrated, popular political culture during this period was characterized by a moral panic concerning the possible effects a failure to ratify the proposed amendment might have, not just for 'the unborn', but for the very survival of the nation. The primary definition of the issue had constructed national identity in distinctly moral and gendered terms, and had articulated the demand for this construction to achieve official recognition through an appeal to the constitutional principles of the democratic Republic, specifically the investment of political sovereignty in 'the people'. This chapter will examine the ways in which the demand that the 'people's will' should be authoritative on the issue of foetal rights was constructed by members ofboth Houses of the Oireachtas.
