Abortion is a private matter?
The following letter to the editor appeared in today’s Moscow-Pullman Daily News:
Larry Kirkland's Jan. 27 Town Crier concerning abortion disconcerts me.
Murdering babies disconcerts me, not an editorial.
He is overly glib in his proposal that women with unwanted pregnancies should just opt for adoption. He believes this not only "saves babies" but women from "post-abortion trauma."
There are a couple of things I'd like to point out to Kirkland. First, the 1973 Supreme Court decision held that a woman may abort her pregnancy for any reason up until the point of viability.
That is not true. A woman may abort her baby well into the third trimester. In fact, as long as the umbilical cord is intact and the baby is still inside, the mother may murder her child. That’s US law.
Why does she think we’re having all of the fights about partial-birth abortion? Those are not done until after viability.
The court based these conclusions on a constitutional right to privacy. So the decision to have an abortion is a private matter between a woman and her doctor!
Too bad the babies aren’t consulted. I wonder what their input would be?
There are myriad reasons a pregnant woman might choose an abortion. It is no one else's business. Ideally, there are no adverse health consequences to a full-term pregnancy.
A second point. Kirkland readily makes the inference that any woman having an abortion will assuredly suffer long-term pain and regret. What he fails to note is that carrying a pregnancy to term can have long-lasting health consequences and/or death.
Abortion has been around as long as women have been getting pregnant. There are no easy answers to this issue. I support the Supreme Court's decision and believe women should have access to safe and legal abortions. I also believe that education is a key factor in preventing an unplanned pregnancy. There are many safe, effective and inexpensive birth control methods available today. It is beyond me that there are those in our legislatures and communities who strive to limit people's access and education to them.
Yes, Larry Kirkland, every child should be a wanted child. It takes all of us to work towards that end both in the United States and around the world.
Nancy Maxeiner, Viola