IVANA BACIK,
Sir, - Not much human compassion was evident in the letter from Stephen Redmond SJ (June 4th) describing abortion as "execution", and "a major monster of our time".
In using this extremist language, Mr Redmond condemns all women who have or have had abortions. He makes no attempt to understand the real experiences of the 19 women with crisis pregnancies who travel to England for abortion every day, nor to address the terrible plight of the girl in the X case, raped, pregnant and suicidal. Would he condemn a 14-year-old rape victim for having an abortion? Just where does he derive his moral smugness?
Happily, the majority of Irish people do not share his fundamentalist views, and have voted to retain the X case judgment as law. The incoming Government now has a clear obligation to legislate for abortions to be performed where a woman's life is at risk. Let us hope it fulfils that obligation. Nobody with any compassion could ever want to see another X case happen here. - Yours, etc.,
IVANA BACIK,
Law School,
Trinity College,
Dublin 2.