THANK YOU for your timely leader on the subject of 'the handicapped.' Those of us working for the pro-life movement are increasingly concerned by the media as 'a vociferous, unrepresentative, extremist minority' • and are finding more and more difficulty in obtaining a fair hearing.
A recent television programme in which I participated is a case in point — most of the most telling pro-life points made were edited out. A wheelchair-bound friend trying to speak against abortion of the handicapped was shouted down and later physically attacked after a meeting.
accept that not all Catholics have the time, energy or inclination to work actively for pro-life organisations hut surely as members of a Church which upholds the sanctity of life it is incument upon us all to suppose the myth that abortion is 'compassionate' for what it is — a cruel deception which degrades those of us who live daily with our disabilities and contribute to society.
I am sure that the main reason for the screening for spina bifida and Downs Syndrome is the
'embarrassment' you refer to, felt by many able-bodied when confronted with these obvious handicaps. If we are not careful it will not stop there.
Two million babies have been destroyed since legal abortion was permitted in Britain. That is two million too many and it is time that Catholics who really believe in the sanctity of life were prepared to say so — not stridently or aggressively but consistently — compassionately when talking to those who support abortion and the elimination of the handicapped rather than the prevention of handicap.
Mrs Diana Sanderson Durham.