Sir, – The comments of Fr Gregory O'Brien PP, (Letters, February 20th) are utterly chilling in their absolutism and in their willingness to target a single, very probably vulnerable individual to receive punitive treatment for the perceived wrongdoings of a whole society, where many thousands of others have been accessing the same procedure every year, but were obliged to travel abroad to do so.
Those of Fr Gregory’s mindset are quite happy to ignore the fact that in any single case where a termination of pregnancy is desired the reasons for it will be both complex and, by the criteria of ordinary people who are not as absolutist as a dedicated follower of the Roman Catholic tradition or, in the case of other countries, the evangelical Christian hard right wing, well justified. – Yours, etc,
SEAMUS MCKENNA,
Dublin 14.
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Sir, – I find it chilling that since taxpayer-funded abortion on demand was introduced into Ireland on January 1st, while there has been a lot of negative commentary concerning people peacefully gathering against abortions outside abortion clinics, there has been a deafening silence regarding what is happening to innocent preborn babies inside these abortion clinics. If that isn’t manipulative, I don’t know what is. – Yours, etc,
NICOLA DAVERON,
PRO, Galway For Life,
Galway.
Sir, – It is rather late in the day for those of us who are concerned about the well-being of pregnant women to wait until there is a crisis.
Education needs to begin early so that boys and girls respect each other and are taught to think before they act.
One hundred years ago, Sean O'Casey looked at social issues. His insightful play Juno and the Paycock looks at important issues. The heroine Juno accepts her difficult life with great dignity. Her daughter Mary was hoping for a better life but has to rely on her mother for support when her boyfriend abandons her in pregnancy.
Education for good healthy faithful relationships is needed if women are to be treated any better today.
Abortion does not solve life’s problems for the man, the woman or the child. All of us need to reflect on how to foster a culture of respect for every person. Those among us who have a passion for caring for others need to teach young people, and indeed everyone, to understand life, to love life and to love God, ourselves and everyone else in the right way. – Yours, etc,
M MACLEN,
Dublin 12.
Sir, – How many people who voted for repeal of the Eighth Amendment realised that people with an ethical objection to abortion would be disbarred from applying for some medical posts. Or that they would be free to picket embassies, banks, “vulture capitalists”, the Dáil, schools, hospitals, buses, etc, but not abortion clinics? – Yours, etc,
TED MOONEY, Dublin 6.