Letter: Facts speak for themselves

DR JOE HENDRON MP may not wish to believe that 2,000 women from Northern Ireland come to England for an abortion each year, but they do so none the less as these government statistics are based on abortion notifications made to the Chief Medical Officer (''It's one thing that unites us'' 13 November).

A survey of Irish abortion patients arriving at the Marie Stopes Clinic in London was carried out in September and October 1994. Women with addresses in the Province were asked the following questions:

``How many other women from Northern Ireland do you know who have had an abortion?'' The answers were: 30 per cent knew no one else; 54 per cent knew 1 to 5 other women; 10 per cent knew between 6 and 10 women; 4 per cent knew more than 10 other women who had had an abortion.

It is time Dr Hendron and his friends woke up and faced the facts, however personally distasteful they may find them.

Madeleine Simms

Chairwoman

Birth Control Campaign

London W1