A Chara, - Dr. Berry Kiely's view (The Irish Times, December 14th) of "an understanding and welcoming society" is one which neither understands nor welcomes differing views on the question of abortion.
The recent Medical Council guidelines on the ethics of pregnancy termination illustrate the contradictory nature of modern Ireland. On the one hand, the Supreme Court speaks in terms of a woman's albeit limited right to choose and on the other the medical profession prevents the practical implementation of such a right.
In the middle of this professional battle of wills is the woman whose right to reproductive autonomy remains constricted. In this the 50th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Medical Council remains blind to the rights of women in favour of a narrow dogmatic stance on the question of pregnancy termination.
The Medical Council's self-appointed role as moral guardian bodes ill for a new, pluralist Ireland. Dr Kiely's siren call to change society and ourselves rings hollow after she brushes aside so blithely the very notion of individual self-determination. - Yours, etc., Dr Patrick Hanafin,
Research Fellow, Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA 02138.