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The wrong choice
by Marilyn Warling
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051113/OPINION04/511130310/1035/OPINION
Waukee
There are approximately 1,370,000 abortions in this
country each year, many of them preventable and many
for dubious reasons. Roe vs. Wade opened up an
unmanageable can of worms. In years of counseling
women, I have never run across a woman who had an
abortion who did not experience overwhelming grief
and shame, which they felt they could not talk about
with others. In my own family, I have experienced the
birth of a baby known to have Down's syndrome before
birth, as well as the birth of a baby put up for adoption.
There was neither remorse nor regret over those very
difficult and painful choices.
Abortion has polarized this country. Something needs
to change to reflect the justifiable concerns of the majority
so that we can move on to other significant issues.
Mary Ann Dorsett, Des Moines.
There is no guarantee of privacy in the Constitution; only the ghost of a
manufactured right by activist liberal judges.
Bob Martin, Ankeny.
Your Nov. 6 editorial, "Remember Why Abortion Rights Matter," managed to paint a very
one-sided picture. You may even have some believing that the woman is the victim in
this abortion debate.
Maybe you need reminded that, unless a woman was raped, she chose to have sex, and
that can lead to getting pregnant. Women (and men for that matter) do have a "choice"
in this issue — whether or not to have sex. Pregnancy is not some disease that a
woman accidentally contracts.
The editorial stated that the welfare of the mother is "sacrificed to the belief that
potential life even at the very earliest stages matters more." That "potential" life
is just as important as the mother's life. Women who get pregnant after choosing to
have sex should stop thinking about themselves and put their unborn child (who they
helped create) before themselves.
As a society, we want to do what we want, when we want it, and have no consequences.
Well, it's time for us to grow up and take responsibility for our actions. If you
don't want to get pregnant, don't have sex until you are married and ready for
children. Then this abortion debate would be non-existent.
—Sarah Hansen, Kamrar.
More needs to be discussed when we "remember why abortion rights matter."
The time when a child becomes worthy of government protection must be at conception.
Any other point in time is purely arbitrary. If you consider that time to be "when a
fetus can survive outside the womb," I suggest you leave your week-old child in the
woods as a test of survival.
The media seem to find it easy to divide this issue into two sides, commonly called
pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-lifers usually find it acceptable to kill adults, while
the pro-choice crowd prefers killing children. Those who do the killing have titles,
such as sergeant and doctor, that qualify them to violate the "unalienable" right to
life "endowed by their Creator," as mentioned in our founding documents.
The killing is nearly always done as a response to poor planning or bad decisions and
would be called terrorism or criminal activity if the perpetrator didn't have a
title.
Those of us who prefer to respect the rights of others are left out of the discussion
but would like the ones with titles to be held to the same standards. That would be a
start toward a just society.
—Fritz Groszkruger, Dumont.
Why 'choice' movement is losing steam
The Nov. 6 editorial ("Remember Why Abortion Rights Matter") managed to shed light on
the real reasons the pro-choice movement is losing ground.
The pro-life movement (except, perhaps, for a small fringe minority) has always
recognized the needs of both the mother and her baby in a potential abortion
situation. Crisis pregnancy centers, the Women Deserve Better initiative, Project
Rachel and Rachel's Vineyard (post-abortive counseling) are but a few of the
countless programs that pro-life groups have initiated to help women. Many pro-life
groups take a "Why can't we love them both (woman and unborn child)?" stance.
The pro-choice movement, on the other hand, has continually failed to address the
other half of the abortion equation. Now that we have the technology to verify real
and tangible life in the womb, pro-choicers can only seem heartless by comparison
when they continue to dismiss "the fetus" as so much unwanted tissue.
Further, now that women have literally come face to face with their unborn children
through 4-D ultrasound, perhaps they have begun to feel that abortion is not a right
they really want after all. It was easier when we could quietly eliminate the
elements of society that we didn't want to see (the difficult, the inconvenient, the
disabled) before they were born, but now we can see them . . . and they are our
children.
Why continue the demand for what is at least an affront to our instincts as women to
care for our offspring, and at most an incredibly open wound in the whole of
humanity? Maybe we have finally just decided that abortion was never a good idea in
the first place.
—Mary Beth Beacom, West Des Moines.
If abortion rights overturned, so must all privacy rights
Thanks for sticking up for both the right to privacy and the rights of women. You are
correct that the women have been forgotten in the debate about abortion. And those
who would overturn Roe must curtail the right to privacy. What could still be private
if a 30-day pregnancy is not private? Despite the lost liberty, abortions would
continue. Very privately.
—Jerry Depew, Laurens.
Your Nov. 6 editorial, "Remember Why Abortion Rights Matter," was a reminder that it
is very possible for this country to revert to the dark ages as far as women's and
girls' rights and standards of living are concerned.
President Bush's most recent Supreme Court nominee was the lone dissenter in Planned
Parenthood vs. Casey, which struck down a state law in Pennsylvania requiring women
to notify their husbands before they would be allowed to terminate a pregnancy.
Under an ultra-conservative Supreme Court, right-to-privacy decisions could be left
to state legislators. Iowans need to be informed about the candidates for governor
who would support taking back rights to privacy regarding medical decisions that
should be left to the individual and her doctor.
—Trish Nelson, Iowa City.
As I read the Nov. 6 editorial, I found no indication that those who are considered
pro-life, and against Roe vs. Wade decision, offer a solution to the problem of what
to do with children born to women who cannot, or do not want, those children.
It's one thing to make an argument for, or against, any issue, and quite another to
limit such argument to an attack on a solution without providing an alternative
solution. As we move toward a possible revisiting of Roe vs. Wade under a Supreme
Court that might overturn this landmark decision, I would hope that our country
finally demands that the pro-life advocates address the issues rather than limit
their arguments to attacks on a woman's right to decide what's best for her.
—Tom Poe, Charles City.
I am angry after watching the righteous anti-abortion folks show their true colors on
the PBS program "Now," titled "The Last Abortion Clinic," shown Nov. 8. Their one
purpose in life is to shut down abortion clinics.
Oh, they give some "things" to the girls when they deliver their babies. But where
are they in teaching girls/young women about their bodies and how to prevent
pregnancies? Where are they in teaching boys/young men about how to control their sex
drives and how to take responsibility for their actions?
Where are they when the young women need help in getting to and paying for prenatal
care? Where are they when the 12-, 13- or 14-year-old girls are crying for their
"mommies" during the pain of labor and delivery?
Where are they when someone needs to adopt the babies? Where are they when the
15-year-old girl is up in the middle of the night trying to calm a crying baby?
Abortion certainly is not an option that anyone wants, but when these folks espouse
only abstinence as a preventative measure, there are bound to be pregnancies and then
choices to be made. The anti-abortion people do not believe in choices.
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I intend to last long enough to put out of business all *****-suckers
and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.
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"The army that will defeat terrorism doesn't wear uniforms, or drive
Humvees, or calls in air-strikes. It doesn't have a high command, or
high security, or a high budget. The army that can defeat terrorism
does battle quietly, clearing minefields and vaccinating children. It
undermines military dictatorships and military lobbyists. It subverts
sweatshops and special interests.Where people feel powerless, it
helps them organize for change, and where people are powerful, it
reminds them of their responsibility." ~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~
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