Sir, – Minister and Fine Gael leadership candidate Simon Coveney has discounted The Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll that found that 55 per cent of people favoured the introduction of abortion under certain circumstances while a further 19 per cent favoured the UK system ("Minister plays down significance of poll on abortion", October 10th). He says that he is happy to await the recommendations of the citizens' assembly.
I am no expert in statistics but since when did a sample of 99 become a more accurate representation of citizens than one of 1,200? – Yours, etc,
RONNIE SIMPSON,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – I would imagine that many pro-repeal campaigners believe that “referendums are blunt, unwieldy, and inflexible legislative tools, entirely unsuitable for resolving deeply complex and nuanced social issues like abortion” (Ruairí Ó Crualaoich, October 11th).
Holding a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment would seek to reverse the blunt unwieldy language that was inserted into the Constitution by a referendum in 1983. Let the finer capabilities of legislation deal with the complex issue of abortion. – Yours, etc,
ASHLING
DALY BOUKTILA ,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – It seems that my proposal in Rite & Reason is not quite clear ("Ireland should follow French abortion law", October 11th). The legislation I would like to see is a complete ban on abortion from the beginning but with an exception for the deformed foetus. A multidisciplinary diagnostic centre would need to decide that the defects were severe enough to make this abortion legal. I hope that this will clarify the issue. – Yours, etc,
EOIN de BHALDRAITHE,
Bolton Abbey (Cistercian),
Moone,
Co Kildare.
A chara, – I read with amazement Fr Eóin de Bháldraithe advocating the French model of abortion law, saying that it adequately protects the right to life of the unborn child. This is simply not the case.
The facts speak for themselves. In France there are over 220,000 abortions a year, that is one abortion for every four births,and over nine million abortions since the law was passed in 1975.
At the time the law was presented as only intended for rare and extreme cases. The same arguments are to be heard today in Ireland. – Is mise,
CIARÁN Mac GUILL,
Clichy,
An Fhrainc.
Sir, – Susy Kenefick (October 11th) writes, "Gruesome accounts of foetuses being suctioned from the womb with instruments of destruction during late-stage terminations do little to enhance the debate on this issue".
Those gruesome accounts describe accurately what abortion is and entails; they are central to any meaningful debate on the issue.
Ms Kenefick’s squeamishness in the face of the reality of what she is advocating strongly suggests she is in denial. The depiction of abortion is repulsive precisely because abortion is objectively evil. – Yours, etc,
COLM FITZPATRICK,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.
Sir, – In her article "Making film on abortion in the US opened my eyes" (Opinion & Analsis, October 8th), Ann McElhinney misses a fundamental point – abortion is not an easy decision for the vast majority of those who make this choice. UK statistics inform us that between January 1980 and December 2015, at least 165,438 women and girls travelled from the Republic of Ireland to access abortion services in the UK, and this is an underestimate as many are fearful of revealing Irish addresses.
The examples she cites of couples choosing abortion to limit family size, whatever one may feel about that, are not in my opinion representative of the vast majority of Irish women who seek abortion.
Her extremely graphic and detailed account of the actual procedure involved is reminiscent of the scaremongering and guilt-tripping devices that are used time and again to control and limit women’s control over their bodies and their choices.
It is not possible to zoom in on one aspect of this grim reality without looking at it in its overall context.
The article also, in my opinion, lacks balance. Ann McElhinney says she wants Ireland to vote knowing all that happens in a country where abortion is legal. She omits to mention that many studies have shown that neonatal life is not capable of experiencing pain below at least 24 weeks. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists conducted a review of research on foetal awareness in 2010, in which it concluded that although the framework for the nervous system in the growing foetus occurs early, it actually develops very slowly and that the sensory structures are not developed or specialised enough to experience pain in a foetus less than 24 weeks. It goes on to say that it is generally accepted that pain from physical trauma requires an intact pathway from the periphery, through the spinal cord, into the thalamus and on to regions of the cerebral cortex, including the primary sensory cortex, the insular cortex and the anterior cingulated cortex. Foetal pain is not possible before these necessary neural pathways and structures have developed.
Tragic, if not emotive, examples are threaded throughout the article, including that of Stacey, who took her life a year after having an abortion. Also very sadly many women do the same after giving birth. A US study found that suicide is the second leading cause of death in postpartum women. It is not clear from the article whether Stacey suffered from other predisposing factors such as depression, but I wonder how much her actions were influenced by a guilt-fuelled culture in which she was embedded. – Yours, etc,
JANE BAIRD,
Beaumont,
Dublin 9.