Miss D case underlines hypocritical approach

THE “Miss D” abortion case has again highlighted the adolescent stage in which we, as a nation, are entrenched.

By refusing to recognise the estimated annual 6,000-plus cases of Irish women travelling to Britain for abortions, the country is effectively sticking its head in the sand and damaging the image of the developed, grown-up state we are trying to sell to the rest of the world.

The argument that having abortion or termination procedures — or whatever else we may feel least uncomfortable calling it — available in this country give rise to increased promiscuity and greater transmission of STIs does a great disservice to the population as a whole.

Such dark ages of misinformation must surely now be finally shelved.

How many more letters of the alphabet must we get through before we, as a people, eventually deal with the matter rather than shirking our responsibility by leaving it to unelected members of the judiciary?

We must bear in mind, of course, that what goes no further than a political, moral or lawful debate for many of us changes the lives of those at the centre of such hard cases.

In an environment where most politicians have a malleable backbone, to put it mildly, it’s likely that this will be an election issue that few will take a stand on, one way or the other.

However, in a few short weeks, with elections out of the way for another five years, this non-straightforward, emotional matter might be something our politicians and the country as a whole considers.

Our hypocritical Irish solution to a universal conundrum must be examined.

Kieran Sullivan

Georgestown

Kilmacthomas

Co Waterford