A chara, – Last weekend there was an impressive turnout for the March for Life in Dublin. Thousands of people took to the streets to demand that pro-life voices receive a fair hearing, particularly as the three-year review into Ireland’s abortion laws is set to conclude soon. There was amazing testimony from a woman who had a baby at 18 and who explained how she was “sick of seeing” situations like her own used as an “excuse to push abortion”.
A resounding theme of the march was that not enough is being done to provide women in unplanned pregnancies with options and supports. Unfortunately, the sense of hopelessness felt by many women in unplanned pregnancies is compounded by the cost of living and housing crises.
The Government needs to start providing serious supports to women in unplanned pregnancies to ensure a woman never feels like she has “no choice” but to proceed with an abortion.
The current review process into the abortion law has utterly failed to engage with this theme, despite hundreds of public submissions highlighting the issue. It is a sad reflection on the current Government and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly that they are so ideologically blinkered on this important issue. Saturday’s march is a strong reminder that pro-life views matter and must begin to be taken seriously by our political leaders. – Yours, etc,
TONY CURRAN,
Dublin 24.