A chara, – Ivana Bacik ("Abortion law must change to avert more tragic cases", August 20th) writes, "The woman herself, and the baby delivered prematurely, have been failed terribly by our laws."
So, if the baby had been aborted and not lived, the baby would have been better served by our laws?
“However, it is clear that this appalling case is a direct result of the 1983 Eighth Amendment.” Surely the case is a direct result of the rape which the woman suffered. The Eighth Amendment is a way to try to deal with the very difficult situation which arises.
“Our law portrays women as vessels, forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term.” No. Our law portrays the baby, as yet unborn, as having a right to life and vindicates that right where possible.
“Since the passing of the 1983 amendment, more than 150,000 women have made that journey [abroad for an abortion].” Every single year now, around 200,000 people are charged under road traffic legislation. By the same logic, our road traffic legislation is far more draconian.
“The adoption of article 40.3.3 has not prevented one crisis pregnancy.” Article 40.3.3 was never intended to prevent any crisis pregnancy. It was intended to help us know how best to protect the lives involved when such a crisis pregnancy occurs.
“The tragic death in October 2012 of Savita Halappanavar, which highlighted the urgent need to provide clarity on the carrying out of life-saving abortions.” The official inquiries into the tragic death of Savita Halappanaavar highlighted the need for better clinical management in cases of sepsis.
“One thing is clear: if we do not change the law, we will see more tragic cases.” Whether we change the law or not, we will still have more tragic cases.
The law can be improved for the protection of life in pregnancy, but it can never reduce or eliminate tragic cases. – Is mise,
PÁDRAIG McCARTHY,
Blackthorn Court
Sandyford
Dublin 16.
Sir, – As long as Article 40.3.3 – guaranteeing the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn – remains in our Constitution, women will be treated as mere vessels before the law.
Women in Ireland should be trusted with the power to exercise decisions over their own bodies.– Yours, etc,
FIONA O’MALLEY,
Waterloo Lane,
Dublin 4 .
Sir, – Martyn Turner’s cartoon (Opinion, August 20th) depicted a boxing ring with the members of the church, judiciary and politicians in one corner, squaring up to a lone woman in the opposite corner. Perhaps to complete the picture a very much alive baby should have been shown in the middle. – Yours, etc,
ROBERT WHELAN,
Knockroe Lodge,
Delgany,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Fintan O'Toole ("160,000 reasons to take action on abortion", Opinion, August 19th) neglects to address the issue of abortion in his article chastising us for neglecting to address the issue of abortion.
Abortion raises difficult ethical questions for any society, not least whether the foetus should have a right to life; whether that right should extend all the way back to conception; whether a right to life for the foetus should impose a duty on the mother to bear the burden of an unwanted pregnancy.
His article talks about the numbers that have had abortions, highlighting the relevance of the issue, and its deep resonance in society. Rather than going on to discuss the underlying ethical issues, he then attacks the Catholic Church. Much of the commentary is reduced to rhetorical flourishes that conflate the church with the past, and the past with savagery.
To religious devotees, or anti-religious contrarians, the position of the Catholic Church on abortion may be a deciding factor; but for the non-religious it is not of interest. Church bashing is not an argument for or against the issue. He avoids any mention of ethical questions in relation to the foetus, and thus dismisses such questions as irrelevant.
The reader is left with a vague sense that vast historical and institutional wrongs could be redressed by legislating for abortion.
Instead of attempting to compel women to carry out unwanted pregnancies, pro-life advocates might try forcing their pro-choice opponents to argue on the issues, if they wish to promote the rights of the unborn. – Yours, etc,
COLIN WALSH,
Templeville Road,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole, who has probably never attended a pro-life rally in his life, nor had a serious conversation with a pro-life activist, nor listened to a distraught woman who regrets her abortion every day of her life, sits in his ivory tower and calls his opponents names.
Nice work if you can get it, but he would be well advised to stay away from the statistics.
His latest mistake is to describe 160,000 abortions over a 35-year period as being “close to one in 10 of the female population aged between 14 and 64”. That is to compare 35 years of abortions with one year of population, and is not a valid comparison.
The figures he quotes represent about 4,500 abortions a year, and that is about one-third of 1 per cent of the female population in those age groups in a year. – Yours, etc,
JIM STACK,
Lismore,
Co Waterford.
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole refers to 160,000 women who had abortions in England. Let’s not overlook the 160,000 men who impregnated them. – Yours, etc,
NOREEN P WHELAN,
Sycamore Road,
Carlow.
Sir, – Being interested in the plight of women in Ireland who find themselves faced with the dilemma of an unwanted pregnancy in any circumstances and particularly in the case where a criminal assault on a woman's body results in impregnation, I am dismayed to see the four male to one female ratio of letters published on your letters page on Wednesday. In fact out of a total of 17 letters on the entire page, three were from women. I wonder are fewer women buying The Irish Times and submitting letters these days or have they been stunned into silence at witnessing once again the treatment of one of their sex?
Have we not accepted as a nation that women who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy have the right to be given the necessary information to consider all available options? Is it not long past the time that financial support be made available when the choice a woman makes involves travelling abroad for a medical procedure not available to them in Ireland? – Yours, etc,
MAIREAD RYAN,
Lombard Street West,
South Circular Road,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – I was surprised by Desmond FitzGerald's assertion (August 21st) that the Constitution, enacted by Irish men and women in 1937, lacks the simplicity of the US or French constitutions "which have both stood the test of time".
The US constitution, enacted by state assemblies elected on restricted franchises in 1791 only became clear in 1864, after its significance was tested in a great civil war, which had erupted in 1861 a mere 70 years after its enactment.
France adopted its first Constitution in 1791 and adopted a further 15 since, though its second, in 1793, never came into effect. Its longest lasting, from 1875 to 1940, did not allow women to vote. Apparently the secularists who held power deemed women to be under the influence of the Catholic Church, and thus incapable of making rational choices at the polls. – Yours, etc,
DONAL KENNEDY,
Palmers Green,
London.
Sir, – It is about time that our media realised that the unborn baby is a person.
The article written by Dr Ruth Cullen (“Advocates of abortion ignoring a little truth”, Opinion, August 21st) brings out the truth of abortion and the efforts of the pro-choice advocates to ignore the rights of the baby. I congratulate you for publishing the article. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN COLGAN,
Chalfont Road,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Barry Walsh (August 20th) foresees "a further round of apologies in the Dáil by a future set of political leaders years or decades down the line" concerning Ireland's recent insufficient abortion legislation. I await the first round of such apologies from our current political leaders, most of whom sat on their hands in the Dáil throughout the 20 or so years since the X case, doing precisely nothing to vindicate the constitutional rights of Irish women.
Shame on those “leaders”. Shame on their indolence. Shame on their complacency. And shame on the ongoing cowardice that prevents them from providing what the women of Ireland desperately need: safe, legal rights to abortion on demand – now. – Yours, etc,
Dr OWEN CORRIGAN,
Gill Street,
Limehouse,
London.