Pro-Life Amendment Campaign (PLAC)

The Pro-Life Amendment Campaign (PLAC) was a pro-life organisation established in Ireland in 1981. It campaigned in favour of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, which was approved by referendum on 7 September 1983 and signed into law on the 7 October of the same year.

Membership

The organization was set up by the Congress of Catholic Secondary School Parents' Associations, the Irish Catholic Doctors' Guild, the Guild of Catholic Nurses, the Guild of Catholic Pharmacists, the Catholic Young Men's Society, the St Thomas More Society, the Irish Pro-Life Movement, the National Association of the Ovulation Method, the Council of Social Concern (COSC), the Irish Responsible Society, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the St Joseph’s Young Priests Society and the Christian Brothers Schools Parents' Federation, who attended a meeting chaired by the leader of the Knights of Saint Columbanus on 21 January 1981. The meeting was called by John O'Reilly, a former Knight of Columbanus who had campaigned against contraception and the Irish Family Planning Association in the 1970s. It was officially launched at a press conference chaired by Dr. Julia Vaughan (a gynaecologist and former nun) on 27 April 1981.[1]

Elected officers of the organization were: Julia Vaughan (Irish Catholic Doctors' Guild, chairman), Michael Shortall (Catholic Young Men's Society, secretary), Dennis Barror (Irish Responsible Society, treasurer).

Campaign

Shortly after its launch, PLAC delegations met separately with Fianna Fáil's Charlie Haughey, Fine Gael's Garret FitzGerald and the Labour Party's Frank Cluskey.

After an acrimonious referendum campaign, the amendment was passed by 67% voting in favour to 33% voting against.[2]

Aftermath

Key members of the campaign went on to establish the Pro Life Campaign in 1992.

References

  1. ↑ Hesketh, Tom (1990). The Second Partitioning of Ireland?: The Abortion Referendum of 1983. Brandsma Books. p. 12. ISBN 9780951151648.
  2. ↑ "Referendum Results" (PDF). Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
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