Matters of life and death herald new age

IN years to come, the last week may be looked back on as seminal. When economics dominates public discourse, the news was full of abortion, euthanasia and population forecasts. It was a glimpse of what the future might hold.

The publication of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy bill was fundamental. For people opposed to abortion in all circumstances, it heralds the introduction of abortion in this country. They are convinced that the suicide clause in the bill will lead to that Biblical Armageddon, ‘the opening of floodgates’.

It won’t in the short-term, but, as the decades roll by, circumstances might change to facilitate young women having abortions in this country, rather than being forced across the Irish Sea.