Human before birth

SIR, I am writing in response to a letter you published by Hannah Carberry. Hannah said: “I struggle to comprehend how anyone can equate the rights of a woman to those of a group of cells that does not have a conscience, thoughts or emotions.”

An unborn baby’s heart starts beating by three weeks. A heart is not just a group of cells. This is not my humble opinion, but scientific fact. A beating heart is the sign of a living human. In the first three months a baby can kick and jump, yawn and even suck his/her thumb.

In botched abortions babies have been know to whimper. Whimpering in humans and in even animals is a sign of the emotion of pain. Nobody can deny these actions show emotions. All the baby’s vital organs are formed, therefore the baby is not a just a group of cells, it is a baby.

Repeal of the Eighth Amendment would mean abortion on demand and, once repealed, time limits can be changed by politicians to permit abortion right up to nine months.

Any mother who has just given birth will tell you that a baby is totally and completely human. That did not just happen the moment the baby exited his or her mothers body at birth. Why should the unborn child not have them just because we cannot yet see them. They are still a human being.

The purpose of the Eighth Amendment is to protect the unborn baby in law, giving them the equal right to life that we all have, without having to fight for them. Let us now have a heart and protect everyone equally. Let’s love both the seen and the unseen and save the Eighth Amendment.

Sincerely,

Frances Kelleher, Killarney.