20 JULY 1974, Page 5

Sir: John Linklater's commendable mention (June 29) of "soaring abortion

rates" prompted H. L. Edwards (July 6) to make light of it all, including 90,000 women from abroad, 1970 to 1972.

My letter (December 8, 1973) made clear how the spiritual person is aborted: the egg or zygote has rhythmic life pulsations long before any vestige of a heart. As Rudolf Steiner wrote in Die Geheimwissenschaft im Umriss (1925 Dornach German edition), "the essentiality of the human being continues itself beyond the physical body on the one side and on the other hand beyond the spiritual person."

Louis de Pinna 5 New Square, Lincolns Inn, London, WC2