Sir, – Noel Whelan ("Abortion amendment didn't happen by accident", Opinion & Analysis, August 29th) seems to suggest that "the political reality" of an alleged lack of interest in an abortion referendum matters more than the lived reality of all women of childbearing age living in Ireland. In any kind of civilised society, the discomfort of strangers should never outweigh the real lives of women who find themselves with decisions to make about their own bodies, responsibilities and capacities. As a woman, I truly hope that the Irish electorate views me as a human being with rights over my own body and health. As an Irish woman, it seems increasingly clear that it does not. – Yours, etc,
CLAIRE HENNESSY,
Ranelagh Village,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – Barry Walsh and Paul Daly (August 28th) are quite correct to state that it is the people who voted to amend the constitution to adopt Article 40.3.3. What made the matter come before the people, however, has its genesis in the political instability that was successfully exploited by the Pro-Life Amendment Campaign. Three general elections were held between 1981 and 1983, the year of the referendum. The passage of the amendment Bill through the Oireachtas cannot be unrelated to the fact that it coincided with one of the weakest governments in the history of the State.
In light of the travel amendment, also duly adopted by the people, I wonder precisely what ethical commitment the Constitution currently protects. The cognitive dissonance behind the current position which enables abortion unless you are unable to travel is redolent of a political and intellectual immaturity that Fintan O’Toole has perfectly described in relation to other social questions such as contraception, divorce and homosexuality. These are all issues which took Irish society far too long to face up to. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN DINEEN.
The Rise,
Bishopstown, Cork.
Sir, – As an Irish GP working in the NHS in England for the past 30 years, I read with interest the contrasting articles on August 23rd by Diarmaid Ferriter (“Class secrecy and morality shaped abortion question”) and Breda O’Brien (“There are two very vulnerable people in this nightmare”).
My experience of a system where abortion is in effect available on demand is that it has little if any benefit for women in terms of equality, dignity or rights. Indeed I would suggest that the opposite is the case. I work in an inner-city area with high levels of social and financial deprivation and the situation may be different for women from higher social classes.
What I see is that when women become pregnant, even if it appears initially that the pregnancy was unplanned, the decision on proceeding with the pregnancy or aborting depends on whether the woman has the support of her partner or her family. If the woman has support, in general, the pregnancy goes ahead. My colleagues and I have often discussed the phenomenon of women who months after having an abortion become pregnant again and this time go ahead with the pregnancy.
What had changed? In our experience the situation tends to be that the woman’s partner or family have now come to terms with the idea of her being pregnant and having a baby and have rallied in support. To suggest that this support should happen first time is seen to be denying a woman’s right to choose. It cannot be right to put women through the distress of an abortion when we men or parents, families and society should be providing the support that the woman really wants rather than the easier option for us of supporting abortion.
There are of course situations where these observations are not relevant and a pregnancy is truly unwanted. I don’t have an answer to this.
I remember a friend, one of the British Medical Association’s advisory committee to the British government preparing the 1967 Abortion Act who said, referring to the subsequent availability of abortion on demand, “This is not what we had intended would happen when the Act was introduced”. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOE KELLIHER,
Prospect Medical Group,
Westgate Road,
Newcastle upon Tyne,
England.