JOHN SMYTH,
Sir, - The decision by three Irish MEPs to support the recent motion in the European Parliament urging member-states to legalise abortion is utterly disingenuous. The motion claimed that induced abortion was needed to safeguard women's health, thereby implying that countries such as Ireland were putting women's lives at risk.
The reality is, however, that Ireland, without legalised abortion, is among the safest countries in the world in which to be pregnant. By voting in favour of the motion, MEPs Proinsias de Rossa, Nuala Ahern and Patricia McKenna chose to perpetuate the myth that the opposite is the case.
Every society has a responsibility to confront the reality of crisis pregnancy, but there is nothing liberal, tolerant or compassionate about abortion. It is a nonsense to argue in favour of a right to choose, while at the same time pointedly refusing to acknowledge the rights of the unborn or the physical and emotional harm endured by many women after abortion.
While the European Parliament does not have the legal competence to enforce their decision, nonetheless the vote will understandably raise fears that there is a determined effort being made at EU level to impose abortion on Ireland. - Yours, etc.,
John Smyth,
Press Officer,
Pro-Life Campaign,
Gardiner Street Upper,
Dublin 1.