Abortion and the law
Sir: The reply to Mr Norman St John-Stevas, MP, and Miss Elspeth Rhys-Williams (Letters, 9 June) is as follows:
I. The Abortion Law Reform Association received in 1965/66 £3,496 in subscriptions, dona- tions and grants for its parliamentary campaign. The comparative figure for 1964/65 was £1,853 and for 1963/64, £973. ALRA spent £700 last year in taking full-page advertising space in a number of weekly journals, including the SPECTATOR; it has done the same this year. ALRA has no paid em- ployees and no office: it can therefore use its limited funds to the best advantage.
2. The wily connection between the British Humanist Association and the Abortion Law Refonm Association is that the BRA, the University
Humanist Federation and four local Humanist branches are affiliated to ALRA, each paying an annual fee of one guinea.
3. ALBA has no accommodation at No. 13 Prince of Wales Terrace and never has had. If Miss Rhvs- Williams will look up ALRA'S address in the London telephone directory she will find that it is 19 Kenneth Court, 173 Kennington Road, SEIL which is the home of Mrs Dilys Cossey, ALBA'S secretary.
4. If Miss Rhys-Williams would widen her read- ing beyond the Morning Star she would find that plenty of other papers 'can be relied on to print ALRA handouts practically word for word.'
Mr St John-Stevas's opposition to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill and his writings in the Catholic Herald are well known, but I would have expected Miss Rhys-Williams who writes from 47 Eaton Place, SW1, to have disclosed that this address appears on the official paper of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children of which she is joint secretary.
Vera Houghton Chairman, Abortion Law Reform Association Becks Cottage, Bletchingley, Surrey
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