Sir, – Campaigners and your columnist Una Mullally have criticised Senator Paul Bradford for saying that the phrase "fatal foetal abnormality" should not be used ("Time to call out Fine Gael's shirking on abortion", Opinion & Analysis, December 7th). The "fatal foetal abnormality" label is not a medical diagnosis, and misinforms parents at a time when they have received devastating news about their baby. The phrase does not describe what condition the baby has, or what the prognosis for the baby is according to the medical literature. The phrase "fatal" is especially misleading, since there is no medical condition, none whatsoever, where a doctor can predict with certainty the lifespan of these babies before or after birth. A 2012 paper published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology observed that there is no agreed list of "lethal" or "fatal" conditions in the medical literature because for all of the conditions reviewed "prolonged survival" had been observed or was possible. Instead, informed counselling would inform parents that research shows that 72 per cent of babies diagnosed with anencephaly, for example, live beyond birth, with 25 per cent living up to five days, and 7 per cent living for up to 28 days. Or that 10 per cent of babies born with trisomy 13 or 18 live for longer than a year, although the risk of miscarriage is significant. Language is important, and the value judgments of doctors as to the validity or importance of a short life should not be reflected in the use of terms that are a label rather than a diagnosis. Every child has value, and it is shameful that our children's life-limiting conditions are being used to promote the agenda of those who seek to legalise abortion on much wider grounds. – Yours, etc,
TRACY HARKIN,
Every Life Counts,
Dublin 1.
Sir, –When I speak about this topic with people who deem it their right to deny myself, and other women, the right to an abortion in a safe and local place, my voice shakes. I’m angry. I understand people who do not view abortion as an option for themselves. By repealing the Eighth Amendment, I am not saying “you must now abort every unplanned child”. What I am saying is give me a choice. Give me the right to my own body. Give me a life of my own, and a mind of my own. Don’t patronisingly tell me what I do and don’t know. Don’t you dare try to put yourself in my shoes. Most importantly, don’t you dare try and make my decisions for me. – Yours, etc,
ISOBEL DIGBY,
Lucan,Co Dublin.