The issue here is sentience

Karl du Fresne asks the difference between a 20-week abortion and infanticide. He seems not to understand the article by doctors Francesca Minerva and Alberto Giubilini.

They claimed that those things are equivalent only when considering sentience. However, sentience isn’t the only argument relevant to this debate. Putting aside the fact that born babies feel pain whereas 20-week foetuses don’t, the core issue is one of bodily autonomy.

The right to bodily autonomy has never – and should never – supersede the right to life. That is, unless, of course, du Fresne would be happy to live in a society where organ donation is compulsory to save another’s life.

At 20 weeks, a foetus still relies on the body in which it resides and has no right to autonomy. The decision to abort is the business only of the person who owns that body.

The other salient point is that only 2 per cent of abortions occur within the third trimester and are done only to save the life of the woman. Considering the toll on the body of pregnancy, people don’t just wait around until the 39th week to get an abortion just for a laugh. LAURA RANGER

Berhampore time. However, perhaps at long last, TV One is taking its primary directive more seriously. It, I understand, is to promote our sense of national identity. PETER YOUNG

Wadestown