Sir, – Fintan O’Toole’s article “America’s right should be careful what it wishes for” (Opinion & Analysis, June 28th) is bemusing. Surely the author’s logic would be more appropriately applied in reverse – those who campaigned to repeal the eighth amendment in Ireland should pay heed to the 50 years of work by pro-life campaigners which contributed to the US supreme court’s recent decision.
Fintan O’Toole appears to have adopted an “end of history” approach to abortion in this country – that the status quo will hold and the matter is settled now and for all time. For such a seasoned commentator, this seems a naive view. – Yours, etc,
JAMES DOYLE,
Malahide,
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Co Dublin.
Sir, – It is with deep sadness that I witness women’s rights being eroded in the US. It is illegal (or soon will be) to terminate your pregnancy in Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. Millions of women will not be allowed to control their own bodies, a level of fundamentalism we are more used to seeing in places like Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
What is to be done? Many surveys indicate that the majority of American citizens support the need for the legal provision of some level of abortion. I suspect pro-choice Democrats would find common cause with many voters if they admitted that the late date of 24 weeks presents a difficulty for most people (but especially the medical profession) as being too close to the age of independent viability (25 or 26 weeks).
In one scenario a doctor delivers (a wanted) baby at 24 weeks and does everything they can to help it survive (seeing two patients); and in the next scenario they deliver a termination of a foetus (an unwanted baby) at 24 weeks doing everything they can to not help it to survive (seeing only one patient).
These two positions are not sustainable.
In my view the democrats should propose legislation that terminations can be legally sought up to 20 weeks in all states, without condition. And, in addition, that every state in the US has a duty of care to women to make that service available.
An uncomfortable truth must be faced: a woman’s personal autonomy (in the hierarchy of things) is higher than that of her unborn child. An unborn child, before viability, should have no personal autonomy in the eyes of the law. – Yours, etc,
ALISON HACKETT,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – In the first line of your editorial today, you incorrectly state that the 1973 decision in Roe v Wade had the effect of “legalising abortion” (“The Irish Times view on overturning Roe v Wade: A profound and ominous setback for women’s rights”, June 26th).
In fact, prior to 1973, abortion was theoretically legal in all 50 states, if that was what the voters of each state wished to do. By 1973, 20 states had legalised abortion in some form, whereas 30 states had banned the practice.
The significance of Roe v Wade was that it prevented those 30 states from banning abortion, effectively overturning the will of voters in those states. So just as Roe did not legalise abortion, the overturning of Roe does not ban abortion. It simply means that each state gets to decide its own fate.
You also blame the “reactionary” instincts of “Trump nominees”, as if the criticism of the original Roe decision was something new in recent years. This ignores the fact that the Roe decision has been the subject of intense criticism from lawyers and scholars on all sides of the spectrum for five decades. Speaking in 2013, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (no conservative reactionary she) said that Roe went too far too soon and “stopped the momentum on the side of change”, while giving birth to a pro-life movement which was virtually non-existent in the 1970s.
From now on, the laws on abortion will be decided by American voters, which was their right before 1973, and not by judges. Surely that should be welcomed? – Yours, etc,
THOMAS RYAN, BL
Dublin 6W.