Courtney McGrailDear Editor, All human life is sacred. The child in the womb is human life. Therefore the life [of the child] in the womb is sacred.
The above piece of simple logic is the reason why I and many, many others believe that abortion is always wrong. It is the reason why we believe that the child in the womb and its mother have an equal right to life.
The use of the term ‘fatal foetal condition or abnormality’ is a contrived one that is meant to give the impression that the child in question is somehow a little less than fully human. It almost seeks to say that both the mother and the child are being saved unnecessary torment by having it aborted.
But human life is not an arbitrary reality. When it exists, it exists fully. There is no such state as being almost human or of being just that little bit less than fully human.
The Eighth Amendment is the constitutional safeguard that this country offers to the child in the womb. It is the safeguard that the sacred life of each unborn human being deserves and to which it is fully entitled.
Those of us who believe that abortion is very seriously wrong have a duty to say so and to say so with conviction but without being judgemental or condemnatory of any individual.
Yours etc.,
Michael Gleeson [Cllr],
Killarney, Co. Kerry.