NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      LONDON (CWNews.com) - The former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, said in her recent authorized biography that Ireland should legalize abortion and added that she probably influenced the outcome of a referendum that legalized divorce, according to excerpts published in the Sunday Times of London.

      Robinson, who is now the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she believes abortion should legal in Ireland under some circumstances, since some women travel to Britain for the procedure anyway. "It would be healthier to be more mature about ourselves, more honest," she said. "Even for a country that regrets and feels a great sense of loss at the termination of life, it would be a preferable situation. It would be a kind of coming to terms with the problem instead of exporting it and moralizing about it."

      The former president also said she probably influenced the outcome of the 1995 divorce referendum which won by a small majority. Under Irish law, the president should stay neutral in such campaigns.