Dear Editor, I’m sure that I’m not the only one who is totally baffled and shocked at the news that the Mater Hospital has agreed to carry out abortions in keeping with the Government’s legislation, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. Recently, Fr Kevin Doran said that the Mater Hospital could not carry out abortions because of its Catholic ethos. What has happened to change this? What has the Archbishop of Dublin to say about it? What have the Sisters of Mercy to say? Are Catholic hospitals to be forced to go against their Catholic ethos and Catholic nurses and doctors, and all those who oppose the killing of unborn children, to be forced to take part in this? The same applies to St Vincent’s Hospital and any other hospital. If the Government gets away with this and the Church and pro-life people accept it then insanity and evil have truly triumphed.
If it’s a question that terminations can be carried out to save the life of the mother, well, surely this was always the case here? All necessary treatment must be given to a pregnant woman in order to save her life even if such treatment unavoidably results in the unfortunate death of her unborn child. This is very different from abortion as it’s usually understood. We now have a situation where a threat of suicide is deemed legitimate grounds for carrying out abortions. Is the Mater Hospital going to accept this situation?
Yours etc.,
Anthony Redmond,
Drimnagh,
Dublin 12.
