Sir, - With reference to the recent proceedings between the Eastern Health Authority and a pregnancy counselling agency some important issues have been raised in the many columns of newspaper space devoted to the case.
It has been suggested, for example, that there is some obligation on a counselling agency to which an expectant mother comes for advice to discuss with her the possibility of resort to abortion as a way out of any difficulties in which she may find herself.
I think this is an outrageous suggestion and one that would - or should - exclude all agencies professing a Catholic ethos from engaging in the important work of pregnancy counselling.
If the issue of abortion is raised with any such agency, it should, of course, make its position clear and advise the client that if she is committed to pursuing such a course, she should seek advice and help elsewhere.
As regards the two expectant mothers who were involved in the recent controversial case, I think it would be of considerable interest if each of them was asked - under the cloak of anonymity, of course - two questions: "When you sought counselling from this agency, did you have in mind the possibility of abortion as a way out of the difficult situation in which you found yourself? Are you glad now that you did not have an abortion?"
Any pregnancy counselling agency must have regard to the fact that there are two lives involved - that of the expectant mother and that of the child in her womb - and bear this heavy responsibility in mind in relation to any advice or counsel they may give.
How many of the large number of agencies to be found in the Yellow Pages are conscious of this obligation? - Yours, etc.,
Rory O'Hanlon, Kilternan, Co Dublin.