Dear Editor, A few years ago a priest friend, while on holiday from England, was one of the concelebrants of a funeral Mass for John, who had Down Syndrome. Many of the deceased’s friends and colleagues from the Old Monastery Day Centre, Killarney attended the Mass and gave public expression to their loyalty and deep friendship.
Later that day, the priest spoke of how moving and loving the entire ceremony had been. He also said that it was “quite unusual” to see people with Down Syndrome in England. When it is discovered that the child in the womb has a serious disability or what is now called a life-limiting condition, the pregnancy is very often terminated.
If the Eighth Amendment is abolished, it is most likely that the definition of ‘life limiting’ will become ever more flexible until abortion becomes available on demand, as is the norm in so many other countries. Then people such as the deceased mentioned at the outset will never get the opportunity to make friends and inspire.
John, until cancer claimed him at the age of 49, had lived a full and creative life and very importantly had been the pride and joy of his widowed mother’s life.
I wonder what the United Nations would say to both mother and loving son. Maybe it would or should recall and reflect that the principal reason why it was founded was that there might be no more violence against humanity.
Think long and hard, Enda Kenny, before you open a door that can never be closed. Empathy and ethics are not always synonymous.
Yours etc.,
Michael Gleeson,
Killarney,
Co. Kerry.