Sir, - The Government's proposed constitutional amendments on abortion are another failed attempt to shirk a complex ethical and political problem. The proposed articles and legislation contain an inherent set of inconsistencies and contradictions within a highly dubious medical framework.
1. The Government's definition of abortion as consisting of practices after the "implantation" of human life in the womb makes no sense as the basis for legislation. If the articles do not vindicate the embryo's right to life prior to implantation in the womb, on what basis do they seek to vindicate it afterwards?
2. The proposal to make the physical relationship between a woman and an embryo the basis for determining a woman's rights as a citizen is an extraordinary legal principle to which no other section of society is subject. The State does not legally force people to give blood or donate organs in any circumstances, even to save the life of a parent, sibling or child. Indeed, medical practice effectively prohibits it where there is a serious danger to the health of the donor. Yet the proposed articles would impose a degree of physical obligation on women, even in circumstances where there is a serious attendant risk, under legal compulsion. Such compulsion applies to other citizens only under military law in time of war - or to slaves.
3. Deference to the deliberations of the Medical Council or the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in determining what is or is not acceptable medical practice, and therefore the law, is an abdication of the Dβil's responsibility to legislate. It is the equivalent of saying that the legal profession's code of practice should determine our civil liberties. The Government's proposed legislation will effectively substitute the power of the medical professional for that of the Catholic Hierarchy in Irish political life. Doctors, as a profession, should have no right to prescribe other citizens' legal rights.
4. The health implications of these articles are draconian. The removal of the "risk" of suicide - as the Taoiseach phrased it - as grounds for termination, has enormous medical implications. What other medical options would be available to protect a woman's life in such circumstances - sedation, committal?
Regrettably, these proposals, as so many times in the past, seek to vindicate the rights of embryonic human life by curtailing the fundamental human rights of Irish women. - Yours, etc.,
Cllr Ciaran Byrne, (Labour Party), Skerries Road, Balbriggan, Co Dublin.