Madam, - The latest Crisis Pregnancy Agency survey on abortion is best described as sloppy and misleading. Its findings also run contrary to most other recent surveys on attitudes to abortion in Ireland. The survey claims that more than two-thirds of 18- to 45-year-olds favour abortion in certain circumstances. Were it accurate, it would mean Irish attitudes to abortion are much more permissive than those in countries such as Britain and the US where abortion is widely available. This is simply not the case.
What makes the findings so unreliable is partly the manner in which some of the questions are framed. For example, the question dealing with abortion "where the pregnancy seriously endangered the woman's health" does not make clear whether or not it refers to current medical practice in Ireland involving interventions in pregnancy to save the life of the mother, where every attempt is also made to preserve the life of the unborn. There is a huge distinction between such ethical procedures and induced abortion, which directly targets the life of the unborn.
Other questions that could be asked regarding the methodology of this telephone survey relate to the comparison of two entirely different demographic groups in 1988 and 2003.
One of the stated objectives of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency is to help reduce the incidence of abortion. Understandably, there is growing unease within pro-life circles that the CPA is spending too much time producing ideologically motivated surveys instead of introducing targeted policies to help further reduce our abortion rate. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN SMYTH, Spokesperson, Pro-Life Campaign, Gardiner Street Upper, Dublin 1.