Sir, – I don't know if opposing abortion makes people like me part of the "religious right", whatever that is , or if promoting it should be an essential qualification for membership of the "left", as it often appears to be (Eamonn McCann, "Texas ruling chalks one up for right to choose", Opinion & Analysis, February 4th).
I would rather abortion were discussed for what it is, rather than used to harden the lines of division in journalism or political debate. For example, if the Roe v Wade decision of the US supreme court, to which Eamon McCann refers with approval, is adopted as a milestone by those advocating what they call the "right to choose'", then that will ignore the wide division caused by that decision in the US, one that shows no sign of narrowing more than 40 years later.
To argue for anything that would inflict a similar division on Ireland would seem to me to be the action of somebody who did not have the best interests of Irish people in mind, including Irish women. – Yours, etc,
GERALD O’CARROLL,
Dooradoyle,
Limerick.