Scare tactics

EUROPEAN Affairs Minister Dick Roche (Letters April 24) fears some pro-lifers may vote no because of “scare stories”.

Even if he is correct in maintaining that Ireland retains the right to determine its own position on abortion, many pro-lifers have been dismayed by the manner in which the State’s constitutional obligation to defend the right to life of the unborn has degenerated into a State-funded media campaign whereby abortion is elevated to the status of a positive option.

If there is a “scare story” it must surely relate to the State’s knack of endorsing a woman’s right to choose as a positive option while simultaneously portraying itself as the guarantor of the right to life of the unborn.