Abortion
Sir: Those who watched the pro-abortionists facing Leo Abse and James White (BBC Talk-in, June 20) and the Hyde Park demonstration, and listened to the silly attempt to justify abortion on the grounds of absence of bathrooms or holes in the flooboards or. inconvenience to student sex lives, can be in no doubt about the mentality of those pressing for abortion op request. To me many of the campaigners appeared as guilt-ridden, harridan.s incapable of rational thought. Hate filled egocentricity appeared to underlie their demand in, its early stages for their own convenience: Care provided by local authorities is said to be inadequate so the answer from .these 'rationalists' is not to improve the quality of Care but to destroy those who might go into it. The handicapped are a burden so the answer is not greater generosity and community service for their families but destruction of those who might be handicapped. Women claim the right to control their fertility even when it means trampling on the rights of others. These attitudes are indescribably evil and constitute a far greater threat to a civilised way of life than the most vicious criminal.
A society permitting some to solve their personal and solid-economic problems by destroying others because they are at a particular stage of development will make no progress on any front. Let Mrs Thatcher follow Patrick Cosgrave's suggestion (Spectator, August 31, 1974) and make abortion a party issue throwing the Tory Party behind those who wish to conserve a society in which love, generosity, service and 'self second' are valued and destructiveness, hate and self first are exposed. It concerns men as much as women for we shall all have to live in the foul atmosphere created by the philosophers of the abortion extremists.
K. H. Kavanagh Chairman, Parents Advisory Group 5 Byron Crescent, Bedford Sir: The most important question about abortion is "Does it kill?" The answer is, "We don't know".
Some people think they know. They say, "In my opinion abortion does not kill and as my opinion cannot be mistaken it must be a fact. And as it is a fact that it does not kill, then it must be OK to have an abortion." This is like telling Columbus, "In my opinion the earth is flat and as my opinion cannot be mistaken it must be a fact, so don't go near the edge, you will fall off."
Of course, our opinion can be mistaken. The fact may be the opposite, that the earth is not and an does kill. We know the fact about the earth but not about abortion. It may take a thousand years to find out. So what can we do in the meantime?
A woman having an abortion is taking an even chance on (1) her baby being living and the abortion killing it, or (2) her baby being not living and the abortion not killing it.
But what sort of woman takes an even chance on killing her own baby? She is the sort who thinks that her opinion cannot be mistaken or the sort who does not think but just follows the others. If they do it and the law allows it then it must be OK. The law should not allow it until we know the fact.
Contraception can fail, it is a gamble. If you gamble on a horse and lose, you don't take your money back, you take the consequences. If you gamble on contraception and lose, then you take the consequences. You don't cancel the bet with an abortion and take the chance on killing your own baby. We cannot gamble with a baby.
An unborn baby cannot speak for itself, it needs a guardian angel. We have to choose whether we are guardian angel or abortionist.
Royce Bradshaw 213 Shirehall Road, Sheffield 5
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