Irish bishops

right to back referendum From Mr David Manly Sir, Your amazing report Dec. 21) about the Irish bishops and the forthcoming referendum stated that the bishops have urged Catholics to support the proposed abortion law "that would strip legal protection from life at its earliest stage paving the way for human cloning and the morning-after pill".
The reader might well wonder what is happening to the bishops, until of course he reads further. The source of this alarmist report is SPUC's John Smeaton. I would have thought that he has his hands full with defending the unborn in the United Kingdom without sorting out the situation in Ireland.
John Smeaton's peculiar interpretation ignores a number of plain facts in the text of the proposed legislation. One, the definition of abortion is proper to this Bill alone. Two, the Bill does not say anything about the legal status of the "unborn" before implantation, neither to permit nor forbid. Three, the whole area of IVF, cloning and embryo experimentation is outside the scope of this legislation. Four, the protection of the "unborn" stemming from the 1983 amendment remains from conception to birth, and, contrary to your report, would not be abrogated by the proposed abortion law.
This is not to say that the main pro-life groups are happy with this "complex and ingenious" legislation. They had very little part in its drafting, and, if they and the bishops support it now, they are well aware of its short-comings.
However, it remains "a significant improvement on the current unsatisfactory situation", and it should be supported.
Yours faithfully DAVID MANLY ICilliney, Co Dublin