The case against abortion
In response to Clifford Longley’s column, “How robust is the Catholic case against abortion and embryo experimentation?” (14 May), surely after fertilisation the resultant embryo, though entirely dependent on her, is not a part of the woman’s body but a separate and unique human being. As such, it deserves the respect and protection of the law. How that law should be enforced is a separate matter and this is where mercy may come in. The woman’s culpability in some circumstances may be coloured by how freely she had chosen to become pregnant in the first place, and how truly free and well-informed had been her decision to have an abortion.

Agnes Milne
Dunstable, Bedfordshire