Abortion is a controversial issue.

The UCDSU is currently campaigning for abortion with no limits to be legalised in Ireland. This means that reasons such as gendercide (uncovered in the undercover 2015 Planned Parenthood exposé in America), and eugenics (according to the British Medical Journal, 90% of pregnancies with prenatal diagnoses of Downs Syndrome are aborted for this reason, and Denmark plans to be DS-free by 2030) will be used as reasons for abortions as well as the 'hard cases' such as rape and incest, with no distinction. This is a breach of the universal right to life (ECHR Art 2, UDHR Art 3).

In 2013, a preferendum was passed to give UCDSU a mandate to campaign for the legalisation of abortion in Ireland.

However, this preferendum had a four-way split, meaning that the mandate (UCDSU should adopt a policy of legalising abortion in Ireland upon the request of a woman) was carried by less than 50% of those who voted. Furthermore, the 1,198 students who voted for this option are a tiny proportion (3.7%) of the 32,000 students attending the university at the time. Three years on, the vast majority of students who had the chance to vote for this mandate has finished their studies at the university.

Continuing with this campaigning on behalf of UCD students breaches Art 2.1.2⁰ of the SU constitution: the provision "[t]o act as a representative body for its members and other persons registered as students of the University."

This petition is calling for the SU to adopt a neutral position on the issue so as to represent all its members, regardless of their opinions on this contentious issue.