Sir, - Mebh Ruane's compassion for women who sadly travel to Britain for abortion, however well-intentioned, is dangerous and deeply misguided (Opinion, July 6th). If she fully understood what happens in an abortion procedure, she would not allow it to be inflicted on any woman or unborn child, even with the consent of the woman.
Most Irish people lament the intolerably high incidence of Irish abortions, because abortion is a tragedy both for the woman and for her child. Not only that, but it is a tragedy that could be avoided if people had a more mature attitude towards sexual relationships and if our society offered positive support to pregnant women instead of stigmatising them.
Anyone who really cares about women and yet thinks "safe" abortion is a compassionate solution to unwanted or difficult pregnancies should ask themselves, just how "compassionate" is it to surgically destroy a tiny, vulnerable child before it has taken its first breath? Just how "compassionate" is it to use the law to pretend that a woman's choice to dispose of her child's life is a legitimate moral choice? Let us have compassion, but not the kind that kills our children. - Yours, etc.,
David Thunder, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA.