Readers respond to last week’s Feedback Friday topic, which was:
Abortion Rights
With the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion on abortion rights and the possibility of overturning the historic Roe v. Wade decision, there is both concern and rejoice over the implication, depending on your beliefs. Many states have trigger laws in place that would ban abortion altogether if Roe v. Wade is, indeed, overturned. Still, many other states, such as Maryland, protect the reproductive rights of women.
Is this an issue of life and death? On the surface level, certainly. But in thinking a little deeper about this subject, one could infer that restricting reproductive rights and access to healthcare further ensures that working-class, poverty-stricken, and underserved populations of our country remain status-quo. That is, keep the poor poor. Do you really think the impregnated daughter or mistress of a state senator in Texas wouldn’t get an abortion? The elite will always have access.
Think about it. Conspiracy? An ounce of truth? A gray area altogether?
What do you think about reproductive rights, last week’s Supreme Court leak, and the inference made herein?
Here’s what you said:
Abortion for any reason is against my religious belief. Never any justified reason for ending life.
Bartholomew Giangrandi
SCOTUS gave states the right to regulate abortions "subsequent to viability". As we know, medicine has made tremendous advances since 1973, making 24 weeks viable according to the best medical experts today. Beyond this is the "right to choose", which is a self-contradicting statement, since a female fetus is given NO such right! Every abortion, particularly those after 24 weeks, are nothing less than premeditated murder.
Steven Icloud, Annapolis
The What's Up? Magazine editors should be embarrassed by posting the most biased question regarding an issue we've ever seen. Clearly, we know what the editors think. Absolutely pathetic.
Anthony Parkinson, Easton
I believe that abortion is wrong. No one should have the right to kill especially their own child. If you do not want to conceive then take the proper precautions to not get pregnant. I realize that it might not be that simple; however, I do not believe in taking a life.
Janet Otto, Ridgely
1. I am against abortion for convenience.
2. The pro-abortion argument seems to be that it is the woman's body, and she should be the one who decides. BUT it is the child's body, being, and soul that is sacrificed. There are two bodies involved in the balance of this decision.
3. I am for abortion (with tears and heartache) under certain circumstances and with strict guidelines. The original Roe v. Wade had a cut-off for a decision to be made. "A woman is entitled to obtain an abortion freely, after consultation with a doctor, in the first trimester and in an authorized clinic in the second trimester." In another decision by the Supreme Court, the trimester guide was dropped in favor of a "viability" guide. IMHO, the decision for abortion should precede the viability point, but that can’t be done without an established in law timeline. So SCOTUS is trapped. They can't MAKE law, and they can't rule on the balance of life in a timeline. We should be able to do better than this.
4. If a woman is the victim of rape or incest, the decision of whether to carry the life within to full term should be hers and hers alone within a given time limit. that should be enough time for her to decide. If the fetus is clearly so impaired that life will be nearly impossible, again abortion should be her decision.
5. Those who want a woman to carry a fetus to full term against her will should personally be ready to step up to pay for any medical expenses imposed by the birth of a child with tremendous physical or mental problems, as well as the psychological problems, including suicide, that may impact a mother forced to bear such a child.
6. Whatever the guidance, it should be included in a national law.
7. THEN - the whole TX thing of suing your neighbors for any involvement in or awareness of an abortion shatters the foundation of our society and echoes the past atrocities of the Nazis of the German purges, and aligns with the current Russian actions where a young boy reported his own mother for speaking against the Ukraine war.
Patricia Burt, Annapolis
I am horrified that misogynist lawmakers, judges, and a MINORITY of Americans want to destroy the established, fundamental right of a woman to control her own body, health, and privacy, thereby eliminating any hope of women's equal rights in the US. This decision takes us closer to a "Handmaids Tale" sort of male-dominated, repressive society, where women will be subjugated, disrespected, and criminalized.
M Gerber, Deale
Every woman should have the right to choose what happens to her body. No group of 9 or millions should be able to interfere.
Eric Peltosalo, Annapolis
Abortion is murder. That is a fact. Doesn't matter the reason, it is what it is. Whether it is at 1 week after conception or 6 months. It is a living being and abortion is murder. Tougher sanctions for criminals should be imposed instead of having innocent babies pay for someone else’s mistakes.
My body my choice? Not your body. It’s the babies’ body. And not your choice.
Kat R, Annapolis
I believe that a woman has a right to choose!
Carol Jones, Annapolis
Unequivocally support the legal right of women to choose their reproductive choices; including abortion, unfettered by arbitrary federal or state restrictions. Agree that there should be a consistent overall federal law ensuring that right.
Lindy Coltharp, Stevensville
Although I believe that abortion is wrong because lives develop from the moment of conception ("beginning"), I also believe that we need to address the needs of the less privileged members of society, for example, in the following ways:- Educate people in schools about waiting until marriage and career put you in a more secure position;- Give incentives and coaching support to woman who face an unplanned pregnancy to inspire her to bring the child to a successful transition from the womb into the light of day with arrangements for care and opportunities for the mother/family. It is essential to present options for adoption or other alternatives to ending a life, because every child is "wanted" by someone according to God's plan, which unfolds step-by-step.- Allow women whose lives are at risk because of pregnancy or delivery, or who are pregnant because of rape, including incest, or are advised that the child will not have a good quality of life, to have assistance in making an informed choice.
Personally, I know a woman who decided to have and raise her baby, in spite of being raped, saying, "It's not the baby's fault," and ended up with a beautiful, loving child and then also a husband and rewarding family life, as well as a clear conscience. In addition to these exceptionally difficult circumstances, what can a woman do upon learning that her child will be severely deformed? She will need a great deal of help and incentive to let the baby live. Again, on TV, I heard the story a man whose parents (or adoptive parents) chose to raise him although he had no arms or legs! With great faith and determination, along with the loving wisdom of his parents, he became a very successful, amazingly capable, well-loved, and joyful motivational speaker. Our decisions can lead to amazing, even unbelievable, results.
Our government needs to see the value of human life, both the mother's and the child's, and our schools need to prepare children for life and right choices so that we do not need government interference. With government support of all of Planned Parenthood's abortion crazes and profiteering, women suffering from unplanned pregnancies are unable to access videos of the intense suffering brought upon a child who is still in the womb or left to die upon exiting the womb, and who -- despite being innocent -- is subject to a worse punishment than the worst criminal in America. We need to think, plan, care for each other, and pray, instead of merely sacrificing a life on the altar of personal preferences, no matter how difficult it may seem at the time. Rather, let's look to the author of light and life, Jesus Christ -- the way, the truth, and the life, for our guidance and unity in our often very complex decisions.
Carol Moyer, Riva
There never was a Constitutional right to kill babies. The Due Process argument was and is a farce. This poor legal decision is being revisited as many other decisions have in the past. Separate but equal was precedent too. How is it that there is such a fit over women being able to control their own health care when many of those women gleefully allowed the government to give them the COVID jab. Nothing to see here except superior legal minds reviewing a poorly supported opinion from the jump. No quarter for the leaker!
Ed Briggs, Annapolis
The leak is just another indication of the corruption and lack of integrity that exists in our institutions.
Melvin Kelly, Severn
I believe in States' rights for this and other topics. That's how we were set up to run.
M W, Glen Burnie
The decision to have a child has long term implications for the child and the woman bearing the child. Every woman should have the right to determine whether it is appropriate to bring that child into the world and to assess what it does to the woman's body and spirit. This should be a fundamental, constitutionally protected right.
Leslie Price, Annapolis
The religious and political Right scream bloody murder about their "rights", their "freedoms" when it comes to potential restrictions on their guns or to limitations that may have been placed by Facebook or Twitter on their ability to freely spout their views. But when it comes to restricting freedom of choice, the rights of a woman to decide what's best for her when it comes to pregnancy, well, that's another story.
To the extent that there's one thing those on the political right stand for its hypocrisy. Do they believe in democracy? The plethora of laws restricting voting and the unconscionable gerrymandering in states such as Wisconsin, Ohio and North Carolina that produce large majorities in the legislatures even when they receive less than half the total vote tells you all you need to know about their adherence to democratic principles. Do they believe in education? Their book banning and laws preventing teachers from mentioning race even in historical context tells us they do not. Do they believe there should be government programs that help those in need? Well, no, they do not except when the beneficiaries of those programs are large corporations and the top 1% as measured by wealth or income, those least in need by any measure of need. Have they any scruples? Do they even believe in truth? Their acceptance of the Big Lie tells us they do not.
The Right, with its vision of what the country should be, has fractured this country, likely irreparably. Eliminating women's right to choose may be seen as simply one more step in the Right's march toward an oligopoly ruled by white males. But it may also be seen as the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back. Perhaps it's time to acknowledge the truth of this fracture, to acknowledge the fact that vision of what America is all about when seen from the left or the right is totally different, and do what people do when their marriage comes to this. Perhaps it's time for divorce.
Marc Knapp, Annapolis
It is ironic that you find restricting reproductive rights further "assures that working-class, poverty-stricken, and underserved populations of our country remain status quo," when Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, used abortion to achieve her eugenic goals to reduce the birth rate among blacks. Today, 79% of Planned Parenthood clinics are concentrated in minority neighborhoods and Black women are five times more likely to have an abortion than white women. Nearly 40% of all aborted babies since Roe was passed in the U.S. are from Black mothers--even though Black women represent only 13% of the childbearing population. Protecting the reproductive rights of women by killing babies seems like a raw deal to me.
Ron Phipps, Annapolis
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