Readers Blog: Stalinist tactics used in debate on abortion

Last week a former master of the Coombe Hospital, Prof Chris Fitzpatrick, complained that people are “firmly pro-choice or pro-life; nobody seems to live in the space in between”.

This is a classic Hegelian dialectic; a tactic employed by Stalin no less: The revolutionaries try

to create two “extremists” and then attempt to portray themselves as the sane voice of reason looking for the rational middle ground.

On one hand, there is the pro-abortion move that demands abortion right up to birth for any reason.

On the other hand there are the pro-life groups who think the unborn child is a human being who should have the full protection of the law.

Difficulty is an abortion is a matter of a child being alive or being killed before his or her birth.

It does not appear that there is any “in between” area between life and death.

Prof Fitzpatrick gave his opinion on when abortion should be permitted.

Similar consideration was presented at the Citizens Assembly earlier this year by Dr Anthony Levatino.

As a former abortionist who has practiced obstetrics and gynecology since 1980, he cautioned that firstly abortion would be permitted only in “hard cases”, then it would be for “health of the mother” and eventually it will be performed for any reason Dr Levatino warned Irish people saying: “If you let this genie out of the bottle, you will not be able to put it back”.

Anna Walsh

Dunmore East

Co Waterford