Keith - laws forced on people influence all and are no less oppressive laws because of that fact - they are still persecution.
The laws of pregnancy termination here are equivalent to those in Britain in the last century; they remain in place largely due to the influence of the church - there is no secret of where the influence keeping them in place comes from.
Go and ask the families of the young women whose daughters still flee to Britain in their thousands for a pregnancy termination whether they consider themselves persecuted by ancient laws; go and ask the husband of Savita Halappanavar how fairly he feels his wife was dealt with by Irish law....
In Britain we have laws which deal fairly with pregnancy; if they do change here it will be despite the dedicated opposition of the Church
Specific discrimination against non believers was a reality well into my lifetime and is quite likely to return again should the church ever get over the results of its own particular brand of (child) persecution and return to its former position - my point all along
Jim Carroll