2 JUNE 1967, Page 27

Sir: Trevenen Peters says we must not brush aside his

arguments as 'hysterical'—but 'hysterical' is, alas, what they are. This is because they rest on the well-worn device of obliterating-all-distinctions. Abortion is likened to infanticide/murder/eutha- nasia/the mass murder of the Jews. Everything leads to everything else in obscure ways which are never defined.

May I inject a note of realism into Mr Peters's reverie? The countries that have had legal abor- tion longest are the Scandinavian countries. It is precisely in those countries that the old are looked after most generously. and it is in those countries, above all others, that Jewish communities have lived peacefully for generations and thrived and prospered. This, of course, is no accident Countries that show concern for humane values in the field of law reform will tend to do likewise in other fields of social action also.