Sir, - In reply to Medb Ruane's letter of August 23rd, I would like to inform her that I am indeed familiar with the publication she mentioned by Dr Derek Llewellyn-Jones. The statement she quotes from Dr Llewellyn-Jones's work to justify her position is the following: "In Britain the numbers of abortions rose the first five years after the more liberal laws came into operation, but the rate has since fallen" (Everywoman, p.132, 1998 edition). This is a statement made by the doctor as a prelude to a diatribe against those who disagree with his opinion on abortion and is not substantiated by one fact.
Something is not true simply because an eminent professional says so. We have to look at the figures for ourselves and let the numbers tell their own story.
These are the abortion figures for the UK for the first 21 years of legalised abortion as published by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys in Britain:
1968: 25,195; 1969: 58,363; 1970: 91,819; 1971: 133,110; 1972: 167,493; 1973: 174,691; 1974: 170,508; 1975: 147,029; 1976: 136,892; 1977: 140,338; 1978: 149,011; 1979: 157,530; 1980: 168,808; 1981: 171,487; 1982: 171,470; 1983: 170,620; 1984: 179,148; 1985: 181,062; 1986: 181,914; 1987: 183,736; 1988: 193,926; 1989: 194,133.
One does not have to be a mathematical genius to see from these figures that the numbers did not fall back after five years. The numbers did level off between 1975 and 1978 but continued to rise again from 1980 onwards. The slight drop in numbers for these years corresponds with a drop in the numbers of non-residents of the UK availing of abortion there, which in turn corresponds with the introduction of liberal abortion laws in other European countries. At no time since 1968 have the abortion figures for Britain been anywhere close to what they were in that year. A move from a rate of 25,195 abortions per year in 1968 to a rate of 194,133 in 1989 is not a fall. These figures are in the public domain and were available to Dr LLlewellyn-Jones if he had wished to use them.
May I suggest to Ms Ruane that she move forward from the Ireland of the past where the word of the doctor, priest and village schoolmaster was law because they said so and could not be refuted. Things are not true because the doctor says so; the facts have to substantiate the statements. It is not good enough to stick our heads in the sand and pretend things are not the way they are, even if the doctor agrees with us. - Yours, etc.,
Julia Heffernan, Pro-Life Ireland, Patrick Street, Cork.