Right of unborn equals those at any other stage

Louise O’Neill says because of Ireland’s “archaic laws” the life of the unborn child “is treated” as equal to the mother’s (‘I think I would be a good mother; I just don’t want to be one,’ May 7).

She may wish to consult the relevant section of our Constitution — which was amended in 1983 and so is hardly archaic — which says that the State both acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and the equal right to life of the mother.

The word here is “acknowledges”.

States do not create rights; their role is to recognise and guarantee to protect those which already exist.

The right to life is the most primary of rights, for without it, no other rights can exist. And that right belongs as much to the vulnerable unborn — something that we all once were and would not exist now had our rights not been respected then — as it does to those who have passed beyond that stage of human development to another.

Revd Patrick G Burke

Castlecomer

Co Kilkenny