Mike Barnhill
Ashland
Dear Editor:
Here is a view on abortion rights as a democratic process rather than a court ruling from abroad. Look to Ireland for the "silver lining," said Daniel Geary in The Irish Times. Irish feminists fought a long, grueling campaign for abortion rights, converting leaders of all the major political parties. In 2018, they "achieved stunning success," Geary wrote, as two-thirds of this once deeply Catholic country voted to legalize abortion in a referendum. Because the Irish focused on a democratic process -- not a court ruling -- their victory "is far more secure than Roe ever was," Geary wrote. Americans should emulate Ireland in their struggle with a Republican Party that has become "ever more authoritarian in its insistence that the nation be ruled by white men," Geary wrote. Just as opposition to Roe led to the formation of the religious right. According to Geary: "Its overturning might galvanize American feminists."