Sir, - SΘ D'Alton (October 9th) has resorted to scare tactics. He accuses the Taoiseach and the Pro-Life Campaign of putting women's lives at risk by arguing that threatened suicide is an unsustainable ground for introducing legalised abortion.
Far from putting women's lives in danger, it seems the Taoiseach and others have actually been paying considerable attention to detail on the issue. One presumes the Government based its decision on the compelling psychiatric evidence at the recent Oireachtas hearings on abortion, which indicated that induced abortion itself appeared to be a significant risk factor for suicide.
A recent comprehensive Finnish study on the issue found that women were six times more likely to commit suicide following abortion.
Despite the hysteria regarding the risk to women's lives, our maternal mortality figures suggest that Ireland ranks amongst the safest countries in the world in which to be pregnant.
In the forthcoming debate, we owe it to those most personally affected by abortion to deal in facts rather than hearsay. - Yours, etc.,
Ruth Cullen, Dufferin Avenue, Dublin 8.