Sir, – Dr Damian O'Maonaigh (October 23rd) claims that the Humanae Vitae ideal has been left untried because it is difficult. It is fortunate that this is so. Had it become the arbiter of life then typical family sizes, particularly in the West, would be very much larger than they are. This would be bad for the planet, which is already overpopulated.
It would be bad for individual countries. They would find, like Ireland in the 1950s and the Philippines today, that people would become their biggest export. Above all, it would be bad for women, who would be reduced to the status of brood mares.
That women manifestly do not want this state of affairs is amply attested to by the fact that they have, wherever it is possible for them to do so, embraced the empowerment to limit family size that is afforded by modern methods of contraception.
This includes, in general, those women who profess adherence to Catholicism. – Yours, etc,
SEAMUS McKENNA,
Windy Arbour,
Dublin 14.