A chara, – I am amazed Anthea McTeirnan (Opinion, October 4th) seems not to have heard the news that women now have the vote in this country. She must not have; why else would she think the only reason that abortion isn’t as normal as a tooth extraction here is the dastardly oppression of history’s “great men”?
I imagine it may also come as a shock to her to learn that modern women actually think for themselves and refuse to be bullied by either the great men of the past or the radical ideologues of the present. The reason we don’t have her dental clinic termination model in place is the simple fact that killing one’s child in the womb is not normal. Most people, men and women, know that. But clearly that notion will also be news to her. – Is mise,
Revd Fr PATRICK G
BURKE,
Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny.
Sir, – Anthea McTeirnan claims that abortion is “normal’ and that it is a “procedure that many women can and do access easily and in a perfunctory way”. It is very unlikely most reasonable people believe ending a child’s life is either normal or an action to be taken in a perfunctory way.
A recent poorly-attended March for Choice shows very little public support for such a callous attitude. The arguments as to the harm caused by abortion to women and babies will be familiar to readers of The Irish Times. Perhaps there is one other to consider: that in a modern, progressive society we can do better for women than the medieval solution of abortion. The online version of this article provided a link to a campaigning video by international abortion providers. – Yours, etc,
KATY ROBINSON,
Youth Defence,
Capel Street, Dublin 1.
Sir, – Bravo Anthea McTeirnan for a clear and sensible view on abortion. It always amazes me that men feel they have the right to dictate what a woman does or does not do with her body. Accidental pregnancy happens, mistakes are made, we are only human after all. In my view it is a very responsible decision not to bring an unwanted child into the world. I am not ashamed to admit I travelled to England to have an abortion when I was 19. My feeling was one of huge relief after the procedure, and I have never regretted that decision. – Yours, etc,
JANE STEPHENSON
Heathervue
Greystones, Co Wicklow.
Sir, – It is difficult to imagine words more bitterly expressed than those of Anthea McTeirnan (Opinion, October 4th). To equate abortion as being as “normal” as pregnancy itself is a travesty of everything that is honest and decent. Her regular use of the words “great men” reek of bitterness. Although she denies it, McTeirnan equates having an abortion with a tooth extraction in an attempt to somehow find a connection. Her exaggerations in this Godless diatribe are insulting to everyone, regardless of gender and are designed not to contribute, but to provoke. – Yours, etc,
GEOFF SCARGILL,
Loreto Grange,
Bray, Co Wicklow.