LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARCHIVE by Donal Kennedy

ABORTION

27 November 1980

“Sir,

It seems to me that the wilful destruction of human life in the womb. known as Abortion, differs from the wilful destruction of innocent human life after birth semantically

only, not morally, and that the semantic distinction stems from an archaic concept unsupported by the latest proven knowledge of the development of post-conception

life.

Thus in law the pre-natal, post-conception human individual is anachronistically denied the title, status and protection of Human Being it clearly merits. Unborn humans are

wantonly slaughtered daily, and not even in Ireland is there a law against incitement to such a dastardly practice.

Surely the Oireachtas should give a lead to the world in enacting truly Liberal. Egalitarian and Progressive laws extending to each post-conception individual the titlel and

 protection of Human Being? “To each according to his/her needs”, or does the pursuit of happiness of an adult permit the destruction of these smaller human individuals?

The Pope has lately been assailed for his public devotion to a Saint whose unenlightened attitude to women was rooted in the same ignorance of human development which

still denies the individuality of the unborn infant.

The Saint may be excused for sharing the common ignorance of his age, and the Pope’s devotion is therefore blameless. The obscurantist opponents of  unborn life have no such

excuse, in this day and age.

Donal Kennedy

London”

The letter was prompted by my reading that the journalist Mary Holland, whose work I admired had written an article advocating the legalisation of abortion in Ireland and that

pro-abortion slogans had been daubed on the Cross in the Phoenix Park commemorating the Mass celebrated there during Pope John Paul’s visit by the greatest gathering

in Irish history.  There were no letters in THE IRISH TIMES supporting,challenging or acknowledging the letter, but a campaign for a Constitutional Amendment soon got underway.

I had no connnection  or communication with it or its sponsors.

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“Sir.

Mr Dennis Kennedy, ‘a Northerner who came to live in the South’  expressed (June 11 1981)   profound depression about developments in the South, particularly

the apparent backing by the three major parties for the incorporation of a ban on abortion in the Constitution. He believes that such a ban might explain why Ireland seems destined

to remain partitioned, although he concedes that it (the ban) would not be undemocratic, and opines that those who favour some degree of legalisation of abortion have a long campaign ahead of them ‘of education.’

As a Dubliner who came to live in London sixteen years ago I am aware that twelve MPs usually sit at Westminster for North of Ireland constituencies. When the Corrie Bill to

restrict the availability of abortion in England and Wales was debated in Parliament, ten of these MPs were Unionists with little dependence on Roman Catholic votes and two

were Nationalists who were also Catholics. Only one of the twelve – James Kilfedder – registered a vote against the Bill. Frank Maguire, Gerry Fitt, Enoch Powell and others voted for many of its provisions. Ian Paisley, whose recorded opinions on the topic are at one with those of the Pope, was apparently absent when the votes were taken. The author of

the canard that abortion was an issue dividing Irish separatists from Unionists – Harold Wilson, himself voted in the same lobby as Maguire, Fitt and Powell. The then leader of the

Labour Party, Jim Callaghan, Jim Callaghan, like Margaret Thatcher , ‘opted for a low profile on this one.’

I would suggest that Dennis Kennedy, before he embarks on a career of educating public opinion in the South, should first do his own homework. A demonstration calling for the extension to the North of the Abortion Act in force in England and Wales recently mustered a mere 500 in Belfast, according to the obsessively pro-abortion  Morning Star.

Donal Kennedy

London”

27 June 1981

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ON A LIGHTER NOTE- the following appeared in THE GUARDIAN many years ago

“Sir,

Reading of the Church of England’s first racehorse (GUARDIAN, April 22)  I was moved by the ecumenical spirit to retell the story of Father Healy of Little Bray when he entered

his donkey in the local Derby. His Bishop’s disapproval prompted the telegram: ‘In deference to yr Ldshp have scratched my ass.’

Donal Kennedy

London”