Sir, – Niamh Uí Bhriain (September 10th) referred to hearings on abortion held by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution.
As a former member of that committee I’d like to set the record straight.
The then master of the Rotunda Hospital Dr Peter McKenna made it clear that, in his experience, an abortion is carried out when a woman’s life is in danger. “Personally I think you are better to be up front and clear about this and say that the pregnancy is being aborted”. he told the committee,”That is the treatment, it’s not the unintentional side effect of the treatment. The treatment is you end the pregnancy. That is, I think, abortion”.
The problem is that the right of a woman to have this treatment when it is required is not enshrined in law although it is recognised in our Constitution. It is the job of government to ensure that desperately ill women can access life-saving treatment. I can only hope that TDs are not deflected away from their responsibility to protect the right to life of women in such rare – but real – circumstances.
The pro-choice, pro-life debate, in my view, is for another day. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Patricia A Lohr of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, in addressing the abortion debate in Ireland (September 13th) fails to alert your readers to the fact that 50 per cent of those who attend BPAS clinics die through the actions of BPAS staff.
Irish medical doctors are to be praised, not criticised, because they refused to kill one human being under the pretence that it is necessary to save another human being. – Yours, etc,