Taoiseach Albert Reynolds says that the government wording of the abortion referendum is precise in legal and medical terms.
Mr Reynolds defends the wording of the referendum and says he has not been presented with wording as precise.
There is confusion about when and in what circumstances doctors may intervene in the case of a woman who is sick or whose life is under threat. Mr Reynolds says that doctors have been intervening for years following a medical code of ethics.
Mr Reynolds says that the people are being given the opportunity to decide in the referendum if they are in favour of legalising abortion in certain situations or not. He says that nothing in the amendment is interfering with the Supreme Court decision in relation to the x-case.
The referendum was held on the 25 November. The twelfth amendment proposed that the possibility of suicide was not a sufficient threat to justify an abortion. This proposal was rejected. The thirteenth amendment specifies that the prohibition of abortion would not limit freedom of travel from Ireland to other countries where a person might legally obtain an abortion. This proposal was approved.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 11 October 1992. The reporter is Joe O'Brien.
