Readers Blog: McAleese’s support for the Eighth is heartening

I find Mary McAleese’s revelation that she supported the Eighth Amendment in 1983 most heartening, as she had first come to public attention on the matter by chairing a ‘Right to Choose Group’ public meeting in Liberty Hall, on March 10, 1981, some two-and-a-half years before the Eighth Amendment was actually voted into our Constitution.

At that time those opposing the Eighth Amendment had said:

Hundreds of women would die because of it;

No court or Dáil would ever vote for abortion;

The unborn child already had constitutional rights;

It would set back ecumenism and a united Ireland.

Obviously the former president did not fall for any of those spurious arguments then.

I trust that she shall soon get over her current reservations. She says she is on a journey, and that she sees unrestricted abortion in the first three months of pregnancy — abortion-on-demand — as a step too far for all of us.

Gearóid Duffy

Lee Road

Cork