Sir, - Gerard Casey (May 15th) argues that Vincent Browne's change of mind about abortion is based on an analogy which is "ridiculous" and "simply too far outside our experience". But how far is it outside the experience of a woman who is faced with an intolerable pregnancy?
Gerard Casey regards the foetus, embryo, even the just fertilised egg, as a "very young, very small" human being, although he masks that somewhat by using the term "human life". Clearly, the foetus is human and it is alive - just as the ovum and sperm before fertilisation are both human and both alive. But a human being? It is certainly a potential human being. But what is needed to ensure that it achieves its potential is totally dependent on one and only one person - the woman carrying it. Nobody else can nourish the foetus and turn it into a human being. The foetus can only continue to live if she lives, may not develop normally if she gets a virus in the early stages of pregnancy, will not be nourished if she does not eat, will not receive oxygen if she does not breathe, will die if she dies. It is totally dependent for its life on the use of her body, and only her body. As for the woman, her body is no longer her own. Even for a woman who greeted news of her pregnancy with joy, the extent to which her body is no longer her own can be disturbing.
This relationship between the woman and the foetus she is carrying is unique and it is analagous to Vincent Browne's scenario. Precisely because it is a unique relationship, admitting the right of a pregnant woman to decide whether or not she will continue to give life to the foetus holds no threat to the rights of terminally ill, senile, severely disabled or otherwise dependent persons. For neither they nor anyone else has, or seeks, a "right" remotely like the one that anti-abortionists talk about - the right to live inside the body of another against that person's will.
Whether a woman is delighted to be pregnant, comes to accept it, or is forced to continue an unwanted pregnancy, we trust her to look after, love and raise the subsequent child. Isn't it time we trusted the pregnant woman to decide if she is able to bring a child (or another child) into her life and make abortion available on request in the health service? - Yours, etc.,
Goretti Horgan, Derry.