Sir, – The article "Rights group calls for abortion legalisation" (October 4th) makes for depressing reading.
You describe the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission as “the Government’s human rights watchdog”, but what a dismal watchdog! It completely ignores the human rights of unborn children, a particularly vulnerable group of human beings. In fact you’d think the baby doesn’t even exist – not even one mention. And wouldn’t you think that being a statutory body it would seek to defend and promote the rights acknowledged in the Constitution, such as the right to life of unborn children? But instead it campaigns to undermine and take away this right. It says its purpose is “to protect and promote human rights and equality”, and yet it campaigns against the Eighth Amendment, one of the most explicit equality measures in the Constitution. It claims to believe in “bodily autonomy”, but not for the baby obviously. And what good is “bodily autonomy” if you don’t have the right to life? So, they’re protecting a right that’s not in the Constitution and working against a right that is! As if we hadn’t enough dysfunctional State bodies. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN O’REGAN,
Arklow,
Co Wicklow.