Sir, - First, may I correct a wrong impression? I do not speak for the Pro-life Campaign. I am the public relations officer for Life Pregnancy Care Service, a non-denominational, non party-political organisation that offers care and counsel to women in a crisis pregnancy and is not aligned to any political campaign whatsoever.
I wish to answer the comments made by Medb Ruane (Opinion, September 1st) in response to my letter of August 30th. She has misrepresented what I clearly stated in the letter regarding medical opinion. I did not say that medical opinion was of no consequence, but that there was an onus on all of us to check our medical opinion and thus ensure that it was based on sound judgement. Dr Llewellyn-Jones is not the only medical opinion available on this subject, nor is his opinion sacrosanct. Furthermore, the statement by Dr Llewellyn-Jones that I took issue with could hardly construed as a medical opinion as such. It was a statement by a doctor about abortion statistics.
Ms Ruane is of the opinion that the introduction of liberal laws does not lead to an increase in the numbers of women having abortions and uses the writings of Dr Llewellyn-Jones to support her opinion. Ms Ruane shifts between numbers and rates to suit herself, but the reality still remains that in 1968 there were 25,195 abortions performed in the UK and by 1989 that number had risen to 194,133. The way Ms Ruane has constructed her argument is disingenuous and does not take cognisance of the bigger picture.
Let's look at another more telling rate, the rate of abortions to live births. This rate has increased from six abortions to every 100 live births in 1968 to 20 abortions to every 100 live births in 1989 (in the UK). This rate shows more clearly the reality of abortion. I am neither confused nor selective in my representation of the statistics; I am just telling it like it is. I am not trying to impose an interpretation on them.
In the midst of this theoretical argument let us not lose sight of the real women who are suffering genuine trauma as a result of abortion and whose voices are not often heard. It is easy for Dr Llewellyn-Jones to write this pain off as a product of pro-life activism, but what an insult this is to the many women who are suffering post abortion trauma. Life Pregnancy Care Service helps an increasing number of women with our free post-abortion counselling. - Yours, etc.,
Julia Heffernan, Life Pregnancy Care Service, Patrick Street, Cork.