Debate On Abortion

Sir, - What are we to make of the new Crisis Pregnancy Agency? Mr MichΘal Martin says its aim will be "to reduce the numbers …

Sir, - What are we to make of the new Crisis Pregnancy Agency? Mr MichΘal Martin says its aim will be "to reduce the numbers of Irish women who opt for an abortion in Britain", yet in a recent interview, the newly-appointed chairperson is quoted as saying the agency will not aim to dissuade women with crisis pregnancies from having an abortion.

These contradictory statements are disturbing and prompt the question: Will the agency, before it even gets off the ground, be nothing more than another abortion referral service?

Ms Olive Braiden says that sex education must be a major priority of the organisation. The belief that greater access to sexual education will result in fewer unwanted pregnancies is a myth and has been disproved. In any event even a casual glance at the Irish social and street scene suggests that, in matters of sexual activity, we have the best-educated population in the world.

Certainly education is needed - education that will explain to people that an unborn baby, from a very early stage, with its own tiny fingers, its own little brave heart-beat and susceptibility to pain, has the same entitlement to life as any of us.

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I fully appreciate the fears of any girl or woman faced with a crisis pregnancy but the reality is that very few of the 6,000 Irish women opting for an English abortion are forced to or need to make this choice. Cura and other caring agencies will give them every support and there are open doors at home where they and their children can have safe refuge while the woman decides her future. What we do not need is another abortion referral agency here to make an already bad situation even worse. - Yours, etc,

John F. Murray, Kinsale, Co Cork.