Woman’s right to abortion as nothing compared to threat to children from men

Martin Conroy and Steve Hayes are just two of the many critics of the historic vote to legalise abortion in the Republic of Ireland (Letters, 28 May). Those who object to the result should pause to reflect on the real threats to our children, all over this troubled planet.

The main perpetrators of violence and death meted out to children, throughout history, have been men. A short review of recent history tells a depressing story of man’s inhumanity to men, women and children, often on religious grounds.

In 1994, shortly before the Rwandan genocide began, Radio Mille Collines in Kigali sent this message to its listeners: “To kill the big rats, you have to kill the little rats.” This was a command to slaughter a whole generation of Tutsi children, who were subsequently hacked or burnt to death – newborns were amongst the victims.

In 1995, Unicef reported that around two million children had been killed in wars over the previous decade – outnumbering soldier deaths.

Thousands of syrian children have died in the atrocious ongoing civil war, many of whom were killed by chemical weapons, and an estimated 800 were summarily executed.

Children caught up in conflicts around the world have been used as human bombs, subjected to sexual violence, and forced into participating in warfare, committing abhorrent acts of violence against the designated enemy.

We are currently being exposed to heartrending images of bewildered, traumatised children caught up in what the UN describes as the world’s worst manmade humanitarian disaster, in Yemen.

We witnessed a young boy clinging to his dead father, hours after he was killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike on a wedding party. He was deeply traumatised, his eyes blank with shock. This is what we should all be raging about.

How many excuses do men have for committing acts of gross violence against children across the world, throughout history? Human life has never been “respected and protected from the moment of conception”. CAROLYN TAYLOR Gagiebank,

Wellbank, Broughty Ferry, Dundee