There is a report of the Royal College of Midwives raising concern about a lack of safety equipment. Chief executive Gill Walton apparently said: “Healthcare workers are taking a higher risk than the rest of the population to care for the rest of us. To mitigate that risk as much as possible, it is vital that we provide them with the right level of protective equipment. What we are hearing from our members up and down the country is that this simply isn’t happening.”
Does Amnesty International Northern Ireland deserve public contempt for pressing for the introduction of abortion in Northern Ireland at this time? NHS, ICU and theatre nurses, and their medical colleagues, do not need abortion to be introduced. Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill should table an assembly motion taking local charge of our abortion law without delay. Should NHS workers and pharmacy staff refuse to have anything to do with abortion drugs and surgical abortions?
The NHS website lists abortion complications:
(1) infection of the womb – occurs in up to 1 in every 10 abortions; it can usually be treated with antibiotics.
(2) some of the pregnancy remaining in the womb – occurs in up to 1 in every 20 abortions; further treatment may be required if this happens.
(3) continuation of the pregnancy – occurs in less than 1 in every 100 abortions; further treatment will be needed if this happens.
(4) excessive bleeding – occurs in about 1 in every 1,000 abortions; severe cases may require a blood transfusion.
Did the Director of the Royal College of Midwives in Northern Ireland Karen Murray really say the following words? “We now have the regulations under which women and girls living in Northern Ireland will be able to access safe, compassionate abortion services. This is truly a milestone”. Milestones and tombstones can look similar from the distance, but as we draw close to them their differences become apparent.
The Ten Commandments on tablets of stone are very different from any milestone or tombstone. People have tried to bury both God and God’s morality in the past. But we live in a moral universe, exercise free will, and are responsible for our choices. God cannot be buried and neither can morality.
We need every ICU and anaesthetic practitioner available to save life, not terminate it. The NHS cannot afford the messy range of side effects and time that abortion introduction demands.
Please ask your MP/MLA by phone-email-letter to resist the lunacy of introducing abortion when our local NHS is overwhelmed.
CATHERINE NÍ BHAOILL
Belfast BT9
Consequences of partisan politics too dreadful to contemplate
In these disconcerting times you would think something of the familiar would be something of
a comfort.
Alas not for us, where the ministerial daily updates and the briefings are increasingly designed to save political face than lives. It has been an unedifying and contemptible sight. But the proclivity for our politicians to elevate point scoring over cooperation for the greater good knows no bounds it would seem. The ministerial rhetoric fails to conceal the deep divisions within our executive. Divisions graver now than they have ever been.
Even at this moment in our shared history, the greatest threat to our very existence bangs on the
theatre door – the politicians will not, cannot work together for the greater good.
Ironically, it is the constituents and their loved ones who form the community that are unified, have adapted and accommodated to a change, light years ahead of their political masters. They see the clear and present danger threatening our very existence and are tackling this indiscriminate lethal siege with all they can muster. This is lost on some MLAs.
Right now the stakes are too high. The consequences of partisan politics too dreadful to contemplate. The world needs to take stock and address the dangers borders and the perceived divisions they cultivate. We can hope for a wake-up call on behalf of those in positions of power to recognise the nature of what we face and to introduce a value and reward system that reflects what is important and necessary for all peoples to live free from the peril to their very lives and the lives of their loved ones. There is no plan B.
LAURENCE TODD
Belfast BT15
Bending to the will of rulers
In these times of mass fear and near hysteria, is there no room for critical thinking and analysis, even some optimism?
I only ask because my country is turning into a place of unspoken martial law, with medical issues being just a factor – and has the effect of citizens becoming more and more afraid of the government.
We ought be well aware that free thinking and asking any questions of clarification of this current regime is frowned upon, even by neighbours who are afraid to do so lest they be accused of thinking for themselves.
Everywhere I hear the refrain: “We must do as we’re told” – to the point that this response has lost all meaning.
George Orwell and Margaret Atwood knew of the dangers of increased military/police powers and subsequent political enforcement in the lives of citizens through harsh laws, not all of which will be dropped once this virus is gone.
Covid-19 is the reason in these times of near dystopian levels.
There will be other ‘reasons’ to consider when we slowly appear to have survived this panic. These emergency measures will be counted a huge success internationally, when governments see how whole continents can be brought under severe control. The next crisis does not necessary have to be what is called a pandemic. Humans are much more easily cowed when required to bend to the will of rulers.
ROBERT SULLIVAN
Bantry, Co Cork
We need our churches open again
I am so glad to see Bishop Donal McKeown speaking about opening our churches again for private prayers. St Peter’s Church in Lurgan was opened until March 30 and people who wanted could go in and say the Stations of the Cross, light a candle and stay a while for pray. It is a large church and no-one was near each other. I hope it will be opened again for Holy Week. There is something sad walking past our church, all gates closed and a note on the door.
Also, no-one owns the church, it belongs to the people.
Another thing about the government both sides of the border, they brought in abortion laws they voted in the south. In the north we got no say at all and when these two mothers Michelle O’Neill and Mary Lou McDonald had their hands joined in the air telling us the north would be next, now not two years on look where we are.
This is why we need our churches open again. We can all make our own choice to go and pray or not. At least let us have that choice.
M McVEIGH
Lurgan, Co Armagh
