In his eagerness to praise Martin Scicluna’s pro-abortion article, Martin Spillane (June 5) chose to drag out the tragic case of Savita Halappanavar.
The much maligned pro-life eighth amendment was inserted into the Irish Constitution in 1983 when the public wanted to prevent abortion being legalised by stealth, as was done in America and England, without consulting the people at all.
Its text, now repealed, began by stating: “The state acknowledges the right to life of the unborn...” In legal language ‘acknowledging a right’ infers that the right is “antecedent”, a right deriving from divine or natural law and, therefore, inalienable.
The law in Malta, as was in Ireland, respects Catholic teaching, which upholds that where a seriously-ill pregnant woman requires medical treatment that may put the life of her baby at risk, treatments are ethically permissible provided every effort is made to save both the mother and her baby. This is different from an abortion, which is the direct and intentional taking of the innocent life of the unborn. In Ireland, the case of Savita was dishonestly exploited under the false premise that her life was sacrificed as medical intervention was denied to her.
Iona Institute director David Quinn clearly stated in the American journal First Things: “In truth, Mrs Halappanavar’s medical team decided to let her miscarriage follow its natural course, as is common in such cases, because they did not think her life was in danger. Sadly, her medical team did not spot on time that she was developing a deadly infection: sepsis… the law was not the issue… Later investigations listed a host of signs of a developing infection that her medical team missed. It was a case of bad medical practice, not a law hostile to the lives of women.”
If Spillane shares Scicluna’s enthusiasm to abort babies, their blood is on his conscience. Maltese doctors do not have their hands tied to save a pregnant woman’s life, even if an unborn child may have to be sacrificed.
Let’s get the facts right and respect them.