My daughter and the real priorities

Sir — I am a mother to a daughter with Down syndrome. I was pro-life for the majority of my life — until I had a child with a disability, and realised that life is not that black and white.

I have spent my daughter’s life fighting for more services, better access to medical intervention when in the hospital, and better understanding of her condition.

It’s not an easy road. I love her dearly.

We have repeatedly asked that children or adults with Down syndrome not be used in this campaign. Yet I keep seeing multiple posters clearly showing a girl with Down syndrome and hear talk about abortion as if it was an inevitability.

My child doesn’t need someone telling her that she is only here because I didn’t have another choice. I had a choice.

She doesn’t need someone to stop abortion from happening in Ireland. It’s already here, we might as well be in the UK.

What she needs are better services, better understanding by the medical profession about her condition and what it means, and better support for parents — no matter what their choice is.

Rather than using Down syndrome for their posters, the No campaign could instead be publicly donating whatever those posters cost to Down Syndrome Ireland and showing that they actually support those with a disability as opposed to using them just to further punish the women of Ireland. Suzanne Hallinan,

Dublin 3