There is a depressing irony in the fact that on the day Dr Noel Browne dies more than 45 years on from the Mother and Child controversy Irish political leaders are still seeking cover and striving for political advantage on another aspect of women's health: the abortion issue.
In 1951 Dr Browne's political career was terminated when his modest healthcare scheme was denounced by the Catholic Church and by his own fellow practitioners in medicine. There is no such threat to either Mr Bruton or Mr Ahern at least not in scale. But both have to dance warily around the abortion issue. In an election whose outcome is going to be finely balanced, neither leader can afford to alienate voters in the so called right to life argument.
Archbishop Desmond Connell has spoken of the sense among the electorate that abortion is a pressing issue and that the life of the unborn must be unambiguously protected in a further referendum. It is disconcerting that these views are not being reflected by the politicians, he says. And not to listen to the electorate is to do violence to its democratic rights.
Dr Connell, in turn, has been criticised by some for intervening in the democratic process. Such criticism is not legitimate. It is entirely proper and right for any church leader to speak out where he perceives an issue of morality to be at stake. And there can be no doubt that the Archbishop is correctly reflecting the views of a great majority of the people in his declared opposition to abortion.
But if Dr Connell has the right and the duty to speak out as a churchman, the political leaders have the responsibility of shaping the laws of the land. It is clear that no satisfactory form of words can be found for a referendum which will prohibit abortion while equally ensuring the life of the mother. The Supreme Court in the "X" case placed the onus for legislation clearly on the shoulders of the Oireachtas. And we are thus left with a bizarre legal vacuum. No progress is possible by way of referendum. No party has advanced down the legislative route.
The main political parties sensibly took the view that abortion should not be an election issue if at all possible. Yet it was not Archbishop Connell who first raised it. Rather was it Mr Bertie Ahern, who last week half stumbled, half jumped into an undertaking to deal with abortion in government through a combination of referendum and legislation. Mr Bruton followed with a declaration that he would do nothing at all about it. It is difficult to know where to lay the balance of credit or discredit. Mr Ahern at least says he will do something, although he has been noticeably silent in response to the Taoiseach's demand that he should indicate what he would do.
In the meantime, the abortion trail to England continues. Irish abortion rates relative to live births continue to rank highly on the European scale. But the abortions take place not in Dublin or Cork but in London or Manchester. And Irish women who believe they have to choose abortion do so with the added burden of travel, of cost and without such supports as they might have in a more familiar environment. If the voter on June 6th wishes to register support for courage and leadership - in respect of this issue, at least - he or she may as well look to Tweedledum and Tweedledee as to Mr Bruton or Mr Ahern.