Twice

As the writer of the article printed in Salient Vol. 42, No. 20 entitled by Salient as 'Abortion Attacked', I would like to reply to criticisms of it printed in last week's issue. Firstly, I would like to reply to Caroline Massof's two criticisms. She claims that abortion would still be necessary in a society free from discrimination. She argues from the viewpoint that the burden of the child would be too much as it would necessitate one partner giving up his or her job.

I would like to suggest that with the 'adequate daycare facilities, socialised housework etc' that Caroline Massof mentions (and which I believe are an important part of a truly free and equal society), this would not be necessary at all. Her second criticism is that as some men support abortion as well as women, it can hardly be in order to punish the foetus for the abuses of men. This is true, but I would like to suggest that while some men support abortion because they genuinely believe it an essential ingredient in the liberation of women, many men support it for other reasons. I once read to a male acquaintance a newspaper account of a rape that resulted in pregnancy. At the end of it I questioned him — asking him if he ever felt any guilt for the crimes perpetrated by his own sex on women. He replied by saying that he felt that rape was naturally a 'bad thing', but that whether pregnancy resulted or not was 'irrelevant' because the victim could have an abortion! To him, his sense of guilt at the crime of another man was lessened by the fact that part of the victim's suffering could be alleviated by abortion.

Secondly I would like to reply to Kate Reed's criticism that my article carried no by-line. I in fact signed my article 'Member of Liferight' — thereby clearly indicating what organisation was representing but for some unknown reason Salient omitted this. I felt that signing my name was not relevant as I was writing not only on my own behalf but on behalf of Liferight and anyone who wanted to dispute my article personally could do so through the club.

With regard to your editorial comment, your support of Kate Reed's criticism rings completely false as you regularly publish articles with no by line including one in the very same issue in which mine appeared — namely, the article entitled Housing Problems in Malaysia.