Madam, – Abigail Rooney’s moral justification of abortion appears to hinge on two arguments (January 10th). First: Everyone else is doing it, so we should too. Second: Irish women are routinely having abortions in other jurisdictions, so it is hypocritical not to allow them here.
Neither of these arguments constitutes a defence of the morality of abortion. To see why, think of a situation in which you discover an unlocked car, with money lying on the seat. You decide to take the money and keep it for yourself, on the grounds that if you don’t, someone else probably will.
Either the unborn is human life, entitled to the protection that we – as humanists – afford to all our kind, or it is not. The fact that this life is being destroyed elsewhere in the world should not impact our moral judgment on this issue. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In what is termed a “crisis pregnancy” all of us would feel for the mother to be, but apparently some would go so far as to advise termination of the pregnancy, ie, abortion. Abortion is not a treatment. It kills an innocent defenceless human being. Human life begins at conception and ends at natural death. Any life-threatening disease or disorder arising during a pregnancy can and should be treated. Abortion is not a treatment of any disease or disorder. At a time when such a “mother to be” needs all the help and support she can be given she is abandoned by all and given only one option – abortion. Apart from the aggressive trauma of abortion, which is considerable, she has to face the rest of her life with the knowledge she has destroyed the life of her own baby. – Yours, etc,