Protestant anti abortion influence is welcome in Ireland

Further to your editorial on Monday (‘US states, and Northern Ireland, should be able to pass laws to protect the unborn,’ June 27, see link below).

I am pleased to read about the News Letter’s support for the life of the unborn.

As an Irish nationalist, I look forward to the humane attitude of Christians/Protestants on this matter being represented in our future Ireland as a leavening influence upon the 36th constitutional amendment. The amendment, approved by referendum in May 2018 in the Republic, allowed for abortion on demand.

Every year, the Irish government publishes the number of pregnancies terminated. Those between 2014 and 2018 (average 24) took place under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, while those taking place under the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 being published from 2019 averaged 6,621 (six thousand, six hundred and twenty-one).

This vast increase is obviously partly accounted for by the fact that women no longer travelled abroad for an abortion. But it is the absolute figure which is the concern. Are we saying that over 6,000 women in the Republic thought they had a good reason to contemplate and carry out the homicide of their child? There is a moral vacuum at work. One is told that what women need most during pregnancy is moral support and someone to hear their concerns.

This immediately calls for government-funded Mother and Child centres to counteract the propaganda of those who advocate abortion for all inconveniences, as one would advocate an aspirin for a headache.

Michael Park, Sevenoaks, Kent

Editorial: US states, and Northern Ireland, should be able to pass laws to protect the unborn