Hysteria is historically seen as a peculiarly female failing: mad talk caused by our wandering wombs. Like many ancient beliefs, it still lurks in the back of people's brains: women are much more likely than men to be labelled shrill, or strident, or sexually frustrated, or emotionally unstable.

"Calm down, dear": the classic put-down to a little lady who's got herself in a tizzy. But men - especially those with an avid interest in shoring up their dwindling political or religious authority - are just as prone to indulging themselves with wild, emotive, irresponsible language. The only difference is that we don't tend to call it hysteria. We should.

The importunate intervention of the Catholic archbishops, following the Government's announcement of its intention to introduce legislation for abortion - in extremely limited circumstances - is a case in point.

The words were barely out of Minister for Health James Reilly's mouth when the robed quartet popped up, invoking the prospect of "the direct and intentional killing of the innocent baby in the womb". Later, Leo O'Reilly, the Bishop of Kilmore, weighed in. He described the proposals as "the first step on the road to a culture of death", adding that "once you say one human life can be directly destroyed, no human life is safe".

Nobody was surprised by the sentiments, of course. Bears behave in the usual way when they go into the woods. But the urgency and the extremity of the rhetoric, even by customary standards, was striking.

Anti-abortion campaigners, in general, are known for their gruesome, accusatory language, yet this was positively operatic: state-sponsored killing of the innocents, widespread forcible euthanasia, the grim advent of the ill-defined but all-consuming "culture of death".

Let us remind ourselves, we are speaking about protecting a woman's right to continued existence when a crisis pregnancy puts her life in danger. Only that. It is the absolute minimum she deserves, and is entitled to expect; hardly the gateway to inexorable evil.

No need for histrionics. Calm down, dears.