"One of the most poisonous debates witnessed in twentieth century Ireland" is how historian Diarmaid Ferriter described the run-up to the passing of the 8th Amendment in 1983.

Against a backdrop of intense political division, moral outrage and conflicting understandings of how a rebalancing of the rights of a woman and an unborn child would play out in public courts and private lives, the referendum passed with a two to one majority.

When the Citizens' Assembly first met in October 2016 to once again examine the abortion question, Ruadhán Mac Cormaic took us back to the early eighties to understand how and why the controversial amendment came about and its legacy in politics and society.

This podcast was originally published in October 2016.