Respect the right to personal choice

Sir — Many of us across country celebrated Mother’s Day on Sunday. We celebrated (or remembered) the women who birthed us, reared us, ‘‘mammied’’ us (and often continue to ‘‘mammy’’ us). Motherhood, as many of us know it, is not easy. While we cherish the sweet and wonderful moments and milestones in our children’s lives, we also have to balance and contend with the organising, the juggling, the taxiing, the feeding, the negotiating, the educating, the energy-giving. Despite the happy images we are so familiar with on social media, many of us know that in real life motherhood is not a walk in the park. It involves huge emotional, mental and physical labour.

With the upcoming referendum on the Eighth Amendment, I would encourage people to reflect on the reality of what it means to be a mother and respect that every woman and pregnant person in Ireland should have the right to choose motherhood. Motherhood is not for everyone; sometimes the timing is wrong, sometimes the finances are not there, the support is not there or the coping skills are not there. The reasons, ultimately, don’t matter because I trust that women and pregnant people know what is best for themselves.

I chose to continue my pregnancy. While my maternal instincts were strong, I fully respect that this might not be someone else’s experience. I cannot be in someone else’s head or know how another might feel about an unexpected pregnancy. I can, however, empathise and I am calling on all of your readers to do the same — to reach into their hearts and show compassion for the feelings of women and pregnant people who choose not to be a mother. Choosing to end a pregnancy is a personal choice and a vote for repeal means empathising with others and respecting the choices they make, even if we would not (or, in my case, did not) make them for ourselves.