Sir, - Recently, three leading churchmen, the Church of Ireland Primate, the newly-elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Church and the President of the Methodist Church in Ireland expressed the opinion, in interviews in the press, that there was a need for limited abortion in Ireland, especially where there was a risk to the life of the mother, or as one of them expressed, in "some extreme circumstances." I would like, with respect, to ask the reverend gentlemen for the scientific authority on which their medical opinion is based.
From my medical training, and many years experience of teaching and practice, I know that there are no circumstances whatever in which abortion that is deliberate and intended is necessary to safeguard the life of the mother. This is not just a matter of opinion, but of fact.
I was a member of the Council of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, London when the 1967 Abortion Act was enacted by the Parliament of Westminster. This Act was to provide for limited abortion, in clearly defined circumstances. With regard to the life or health of the mother abortion was to be lawful "if two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion, formed in good faith, either that: (i) continuation of the pregnancy would endanger the life of the pregnant woman; or (ii) that the continuation of the pregnancy would involve risk to the physical or mental heath of the pregnant woman greater than if the pregnancy was terminated." The Act does not allow for "abortion on demand". What has happened to the concept of limited abortion under the 1967 Act, now that almost all abortions in Great Britain are for "quasi-social" indications, and there is a lucrative abortion industry?
If we, in Ireland, are not to be driven down the same road, there has to be total prohibition of induced abortion and much more support for caring organisations such as Cura and Life. - Yours, etc., Professor Eamon O'Dwyer,
Lower Taylors Hill, Galway.