One of the State's most prominent family planning charities has called for the removal from the Constitution of the 1983 amendment that outlaws abortion.
The 20th anniversary of the passing of the constitutional amendment falls on Sunday. The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) said the amendment was "a flawed and inappropriate" way to deal with the issue of abortion.
The organisation said it supported the repeal of article 40.3.3 from the Constitution to enable access to "safe, legal abortion" in Ireland.
Speaking at an event organised by the umbrella body Alliance for Choice to mark the anniversary, Ms Catherine Forde, spokesperson for the IFPA board, said: "The 'X Case', the 'C Case', the Deirdre De Barra story and the fact that tens of thousands of women have travelled to England for terminations over the past 20 years shows that the constitutional ban on abortion has failed so many women."
Ms Forde said it was interesting that in June of this year, the 30th anniversary of safe, legal abortion in Denmark coincided with the abortion rate reaching its lowest point. British statistics, meanwhile, show more Irish women are accessing abortion services than ever before, the IFPA said.
The organisation said abortion rates per 1,000 women in the 15-44 age group had increased from 2.6 in 1975 to 7.5 in 2001. The Danish statistics had decreased from 23.7 in 1975 to 12 per 1,000 women today.
IFPA said these statistics back up international research that argues developed countries with legalised abortions and access to abortion services have long-term predominant trends of abortion rates declining.
"There is an onus on our legislator to deal realistically with the issue of abortion. The 2002 referendum sent a message to the Government that the Irish people don't want to go backwards. Until article 40.3.3 of our Constitution is repealed in its entirety can we move forward.
Alliance for Choice has published articles by people who were active in the 1983 Referendum campaign, or who have been active in pro-choice politics since then.
Anti-abortion groups, including the Pro-Life Campaign, have been celebrating the anniversary of the amendment. Dr Berry Kiely of the Pro-Life Campaign said the Constitutional amendment had not put Irish women at risk and that Irish obstetric practice was "excellent across the board".
The X-Case, where the-then attorney general sought an injunction to prevent a pregnant 14-year-old girl from travelling to Britain for a termination of pregnancy, was the first, and hugely controversial, test of the amendment.
The High Court upheld his application, but the Supreme Court later overturned it, effectively ruling that abortion was permissible in the case of a "real and substantial risk" to the life, as distinct from the health, of the mother.