It’s time the state faced up to abortion realities

HOW ironic if, as Dan Buckley suggests (July 21), a European Court of Human Rights decision in the A,B and C abortion cases becomes Europe’s equivalent of Roe v Wade.

Anti-choice groups have influenced the Irish state’s policy on this matter to the extent that it has failed even to legislate on the protection of a woman’s life when, in the words of the X case judgment, there is a “real and substantial risk” that she will die because of her pregnancy.

It is surely no defence to claim that every woman in the country who finds herself in situation where she wishes to choose abortion has the option of exposing her most intimate concerns before a court in order to seek permission. It is time the state was honest and admitted that far from being a shining example of difference from our European neighbours, abortion is commonplace here.