LETTERS

Make parenthood easier

The British Medical Association’s motion to decriminalise abortion is a backward step and does nothing to address the pressures that lead women to end their pregnancies.

If the BMA’s vote becomes government policy, any constraints surrounding this life- and- death choice will fall into the hands of individual doctors rather than policymakers and the public conscience.

It also overlooks the glaring medical evidence that the unborn child has a life of its own. By the end of the second trimester — the current legal limit for most abortions — babies can recognise their mother’s voice and kick hard enough for their mothers to feel it.

It is also at this point that — in some cases — an unborn child can survive outside the womb.

This week’s ruling could, based on a doctor’s own judgment, see foetuses aborted up to the point of birth. This means that perfectly healthy, fully-formed babies may never see the light of day.

The BMA’s decision, like the Abortion Act itself 50 years ago, treats a symptom while missing the underlying disease.

Increasing access to legal, safe abortions helps women who want to end their pregnancies, but doesn’t address the factors that lead women to make this choice.

It might be financial worries, family pressures, job security or worries about their ability to pursue an education. We owe it to ourselves to find ways to alleviate these difficulties.

We should see, for example, how we can increase the availability and use of shared parental leave, make childcare more affordable and make universities more family-friendly.

More is also needed to prevent unplanned pregnancies in the first place and help people raise families. Sexual health education must ensure that boys and girls know that they both have a role to play in creating life and in raising children.

By making parenthood easier, we reduce the pressures that can lead to abortion, while raising children who will positively contribute to British society. If our aim is to create a more just, humane society, we can do better than decriminalising abortion. We must do better. TONY PERRY, Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Flawed thinking

I hAve every sympathy with those poor souls whose circumstances mean they need to have an abortion; less so with those who choose it as a form of late contraception.

Now there is a motion to remove legal time limits on abortion altogether. I recall we were promised it would never be on demand, only in extreme cases. Yet now it looks as if the brakes are coming off entirely.

Will they decide next that if you don’t like the look of the baby when it comes out, you can kill it off with impunity? After all, what is the difference between a week before birth and a week after?

Also, why cull so many unborn babies when we do not allow the old and ill to opt for death but insist they live out their days of misery?

I am old, though not ill, but dread the thought of being a mindless piece of meat in an old people’s home or hospital, unable to do anything but await the inevitable. Something somewhere is very wrong.

Name and address supplied.

Fire risk complacency

The tragedy at Grenfell Tower outlines the erosion of fire precautions in this country.

The decision to take away the responsibility from local fire brigades, which used to prescribe what precautions were required for a particular building, must have contributed to the danger from fire.

In the Seventies and eighties I owned, progressively, five hotels in Devon and Somerset after the Fire Act of 1976 was implemented. Any premises taking in more than a certain number of guests sleeping above the ground floor were subject to this Act.

The local fire station had a dedicated fire prevention officer who identified what precautions were required. The owners were then given a period of time to carry out these works. There was no appeal. When completed, a fire certificate was issued.

Subsequently, at random and without warning, a fire engine would arrive at the premises and the officer in charge would scour the building, searching for any failure to comply with the fire certificate. Alarms were tested and a log was then signed.

Because of this ‘belt and braces’ regime, the number of deaths and injuries from fire in these types of premises dropped dramatically.

In the Nineties, the responsibility for this work was removed from the Fire Service. John Prescott, then deputy PM, put the onus on property owners to make risk assessments.

It seems a tragedy is always needed to counteract the complacency that has becomes evident over the years.

DAVID BUCKPITT, Torquay, Devon.

Waste of resources

AS A retired police officer I can recall many pet projects of senior officers that in the end amounted to a complete waste of police resources.

Some were well-intentioned but ended up as vanity projects, others were a desperate plea for promotion on someone’s behalf, and some were simply bad management. however, never did I see anything so stupid as the Gay Pride police car (Mail).

A police presence at the Gay Pride march to prevent any breach of the peace is, of course, what is expected of the Force.

To join the march as participants is questionable, but in fairness probably shows the gay community they are not excluded by the police.

But to blow the diversity budget on having two high-powered operational police cars painted in Gay Pride colours is beyond belief.

how is this going to help investigate or prevent hate crime, which is what the diversity budget is intended for?

In a time of austerity, when reducing police budgets without affecting efficiency is a priority, how does this fit in?

Name and address supplied.

Blood bar

DR MAX PEMBERTON (Mail) makes a valid point that the ban on sexually active gay men giving blood is over the top and the risks involved are minimal.

However, there is a vastly greater source of blood donors who are banned.

I donated 97 times until I suffered an accident at work. During many subsequent operations, I was given blood and platelets to save my life. But because I had received blood products, I am now banned from donating blood.

In my opinion, there are far more potential blood donors out there whose lives were saved because of other donors than there are gay people who want to donate but who, out of principle, tick the relevant gay boxes on the donor form and so are turned away.

The risk of my blood now being contaminated nearly ten years after my accident must be minimal, so why can’t I give blood?

RoLf KitChiNG, Gosport, hampshire.

A question of care

THE Sikhs who were told by Adopt Berkshire that they could not adopt a white child must feel so insulted.

This couple are both Britishborn and their cultural background should have nothing whatsoever to do with adopting a child of any creed, religion or colour. They could give so much love and care — surely far better than leaving the child in the system.

The couple have now been approved by the U.S. authorities to adopt from there.

Britain is forever advocating how diverse it is. Yet it’s no wonder we have nearly 80,000 children in care if these kind of stupid decisions are allowed to stand. JEAN BLANChARD, South Benfleet, Essex.