Exploiting the disabled to justify abortion

I hope no-one will accuse Alison O’Connor (Irish Examiner, August 7) of discrimination against the disabled, due to her advocacy of the right to end a pregnancy in cases where the child will be born disabled.

From previous writings, I believe she is just as happy to support the right of a woman to end a healthy pregnancy.

It is, however, much easier to use the more emotive example of disability to insert the thinner end of the wedge, in pursuit of wider abortion rights. What a pity advocacy groups for the disabled stay silent on such matters, especially in a week when Ireland’s Special Olympians were so widely praised. What a pity, also, that the disabled, who are often denied an equal voice in society, can be used in attempts to introduce the right to destroy unborn life, under the label of tolerance.