Sir, – I would like to congratulate Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tóibín for his refusal to support his party’s stance on the abortion issue in recent days (Home News, November 29th).
Over the past few weeks, many politicians, media commentators and indeed some medical practitioners have disgraced themselves. They have already decided that the sad events in Galway were as a direct result of Ireland’s abortion laws. Any rational attempt to wait and establish the full facts has been abandoned under a tidal wave of recrimination and finger pointing.
In this context, the outstanding safety record of Irish maternity services for decades is now being ignored as an inconvenient truth that might undermine the urge to “do something” immediately.
Furthermore, to use the tragic death of a young woman as an excuse to score political points, or to advance an unspoken, pre-determined, pro-abortion agenda is truly contemptible. It is very disappointing to see so many politicians jump on this bandwagon rather than wait until the outcome of a fair and full clinical inquiry.
In such a context, Deputy Tóibín’s refusal to rush to judgment was truly admirable. His stance is even more courageous when one considers the strong culture of internal discipline practised by his party.
It is to be hoped that Sinn Féin will respect Deputy Tóibín’s actions on this matter, and will not attempt to impose any sanction against him. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Like all practitioners unfortunately, I come across tragic events on a daily basis in my work. I am thus only too well aware of the sadness and grief that Savita Halappanavar’s husband and family are going through.
While all of us can empathise with the Halappanavar family, many others are going through personal grief and sadness at the moment.
In Ireland we tend to over-analyse everything, frequently missing the bigger picture that is the elephant in the room.
The stress, sadness and despair that so many patients attending general practice are going through at the moment is indescribable. In more than 30 years of practice things have never been worse.
It is heart-breaking to see people reduced to poverty, despair and hunger by the actions, inactions and the reckless behaviour of those who are responsible in political and banking circles.
We do not need an inquiry nationally or internationally to establish the cause of the death of the unfortunate Mrs Halappanavar. Neither do we need at present inquiries into the cause of the economic collapse. We need action, action and more action. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – If Irish men were as hesitant in contributing to a crisis pregnancy as they are in enacting legislation for it, would we have a need for legislation? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Vincent Browne (Opinion, November 28th) writes: “The prohibition of abortion essentially compels women to give their bodies for the sustenance of other human beings (yes innocent and very vulnerable human beings), independently of their wishes and needs, and independently even of whether they consented to becoming pregnant.”
Does he not see that, if the primordial right to existence does not give us a legitimate claim on another human being, then all smaller moral claims – all social obligation, all social solidarity, all social conscience – must go by the board?
He also writes as though the eventuality of pregnancy were some kind of bizarre, outlandish occurrence, rather than the very matrix of human nature and the way we all came into the world.
Pregnancy is not a “hard case”, a thought experiment, or an unfortunate complication in which two strangers happen to have become entangled. To view it in such a chillingly abstract way is surely a giant step on the road to dehumanisation. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – If Lucinda Creighton truly believes that Fine Gael did not have a mandate to legislate for abortion (Home News, November 28th), she might want to consider this.
More people came out on to the streets of Ireland in response to the tragic loss of Savita Halappanavar than have demonstrated against the last four years of our ongoing economic crisis. They marched together to tell our Government that it is time now to finally do the right thing and resolve this issue. And in case anyone has any doubts, this is a mandate. This is an order from the people of Ireland telling our government to do the job we elected it to do. – Yours, etc,