Sir, - The political parties have decided that abortion is not important enough to be an issue in the forthcoming general election. This may turn out to be a serious strategic error on polling day.
Recent MRBI and IMS opinion polls show that roughly 65 per cent of the respondents would like an opportunity to comment, by referendum, on the 1992 Supreme Court judgement in the X Case. Only 26 per cent or so want the judgement implemented by abortion legislation. These poll figures are consistent with the 1983 and 1992 referenda results, and are supported by 79 per cent of the country's county and urban councils, which have asked the government to let the people decide by referendum.
If the great majority of Irish people want a referendum, why are the Government and opposition parties still considering legislation and refusing a referendum? Are we still a democracy?
In the 1992 X Case, the Supreme Court justices decided that the 1983 Pro Life constitutional amendment, which had been specifically designed to ban abortion totally in Ireland, was in fact a pro abortion amendment. They legalised abortion, without timelimit restrictions, where the mother's life is at risk from her pregnancy, including the risk of suicide.
This monumental miscarriage of justice represents the most important issue facing the nation at the present time, yet it is not on the electoral agenda. Are the politicians aware that the highest court in the land is vested in the electorate, not in the Supreme Court?
In 1994, the Minister of Health of the previous government admitted that it was impossible to legislate for the X Case ruling, because of political, ethical and legal complications. Any proposed legislation would have to conform to the Supreme Court guidelines, which permit abortions up to the moment of birth, in line with suicide threats, which can be made at any time during the pregnancy.
Any politician who cannot see, from this scenario, that abortion legislation is out of the question, and that a properly formulated referendum is a democratic imperative, is not fit for office. -Yours, etc.,
Forest Road,
Swords,
Co Dublin.