Law does not stop rising tide of abortions

THE EDITOR: I hope you will be able to accommodate our reply to Ms Dopwell’s label for ASPIRE (August 4.) First, we respect Ms Dopwell’s right to call us any name she pleases, however inaccurate. What we question is her claim to a monopoly of the truth. Second, we acknowledge and admire the excellent work being done by all the agencies named in her letter.  We hope there were more of them. The fact is that we still face at least 20,000 abortions every year. In spite of their excellent work the magnitude of the problem demands a far more systemic approach. Third, we speak for ourselves and we define our work — not Ms Dopwell and not anyone in the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, past, present or future. We stand for safe motherhood. In this, we are completely aligned with the work of the World Health Organisation. Fourth, we hold our work to be anti-abortion and pro-family. The restrictive criminal law Ms Dopwell vigorously defends has done nothing to stem the rising tide of abortions in our country over the last several decades or prevent the continued harm to women’s health.

Our work offers the opportunity of facing that challenge and the prospect of reducing the number of abortions. How is that pro-abortion? Fifth, Ms Dopwell seems to be more concerned with whether abortion is legal or not, rather than with how many abortions occur. So long as abortion remains a criminal offence she is happy, no matter the consequence. We differ: if making abortion legal can reduce the number of abortions through non-directive counselling and contraceptive uptake, we hold this as a morally superior approach. It protects life. Sixth, in our eyes, Ms Dopwell seems to defend a status quo of widespread hypocrisy. Since women with the means can obtain safe abortions from private physicians in spite of the criminal law, there is no problem. Leave the poor to suffer in silence. We see nothing Christian is this structured injustice.

Seventh, perhaps we could invite Ms Dopwell to an objective review of the Catholic policy of anti-contraception and Catholic practice of abortion. She will find both to be pro-abortion.  Women who are denied access to modern contraceptive methods are more prone to unplanned and unwanted pregnancies and so to the likelihood of abortions.  Data here as in other countries show that Catholics are the religious group that accounts for a higher proportion of abortions, than its representation in the population. Finally, ASPIRE is seeking to change the abortion law (repeat, law) in order to reduce the social problem of unsafe abortion in the short term (2-5 years), and to reduce the incidence of abortion in the medium term (5-10 years). That is infinitely more than can be claimed to be achieved under the present criminal law of abortion. 

DYLIS L MC DONALD
Project Director
ASPIRE