Sir - I wonder if it would not be appropriate for you to apologise for contributing to the identification of the child at the centre of the latest abortion row? Would you have deemed it appropriate to publish a picture of the home of the child in the X case? If not, why not?
Even more important is the extent to which the child at the centre of this case is being used - and indeed abused - by both sides in this furore. On the one hand, those who decry the confused state of abortion law in Ireland appear to have leapt into commenting upon this case with something approaching self-righteous glee. The personal and private anguish of this child and her family are more important than (yet another) test case of hypocrisy in Irish law and politics.
Even more offensive - and verging on the pornographic - is the way in which anti-abortion extremists have parasitically attached themselves to this child and her family. Their fund-raising efforts - allegedly on her behalf - give rise to the most serious concerns. Meanwhile, these groups ride the wave of publicity created - in part - by your newspaper.
You have let yourself down - as well as your readers and, tragically, this child. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Ben Tonra,
Department of International Politics,
University of Wales, Aberystwyth.