Like many people, I was shocked and disappointed with last week's ruling from the European Court of Human Rights which seeks to undermine Ireland's ethos of respect for unborn human life.

What the public needs to know is that Ireland, according to Unicef, is the safest place in the world for an expectant mother and her baby – yes, we have lowest maternal mortality rate in the world. Ironically, the European Court of Human Rights is situated in France, a country where mothers are twice as likely to die in childbirth. In England, a country many would like us to follow, mothers are nearly three times more likely to die in childbirth.

Surely they should be looking to Ireland as an example to the world on how to protect pregnant mothers, or highlight the fact that so many female unborn babies are forcibly aborted in China, rather than seeking to foist an abortion culture on us.

Surely, in these recessionary times, we should be blowing our trumpet about Ireland being the safest country in the world to have a baby.

James Maher

Dublin Road

Mullingar