Letters to the Editor
Amerigo
Published Letters: 955 Editor's Choice: 60
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Reply to syoung2007
[Read the article: Pregnant and poor in Mississippi]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Your theory that a fetus is, medically speaking, a parasite is rather alarming. I hope that if you ever become pregnant, a remote possibility I should think, you would consult an obstetrician rather than a parasitologist.
Yes, I know there can be complications of pregnancy. My mother had severe pre-eclampsia when expecting me and nearly died. Fortunately for both of us, she survived, had three more children, and lived for another 52 years before expiring from a stroke, like her father before her. She also worked for many years as a midwife.
Treatment and monitoring of complications of pregnancy these days is greatly improved, especially in the developed nations, so pregnancy is not the death sentence it used to be for many women, nor does it mean that they are disgraced and cast out from society.
You talk about women being forced to undergo involuntary pregnancies as if they were being strapped down and inseminated, but that is not quite the case as far as this article is concerned. I would not be surprised if women in the Muslim world ARE forced to undergo pregnancy (if I am wrong perhaps some imam reading this will correct me), but here in the US most pregnant women have contributed to their own downfall. I think there is a good case for abortion to be allowed, indeed provided, in cases of rape
Of course human beings are not logical creatures. Whatever made you jump to that conclusion? We are driven by evolutionary needs to perpetuate our genes and for our species to compete for survival against others. If we were in our right minds, we would never reproduce at all.
However, I am just telling you what ordinary people think and why they oppose abortion. In a democracy the majority does not have to be rational. It just has to be a majority.
And if you think you can persuade people that their children are parasites, then good luck to you. They will just give you a flea in your ear.
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New Yorker
[Read the article: Pregnant and poor in Mississippi]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I didn't say I thought any one who had an abortion would regret it. I said that many people feel that way and that they therefore support laws that don't allow for unlimited abortion on demand. I was offering this as an alternative to the theory that people who oppose abortion are all fascists or religious nuts.
No doubt there are lots of elderly people whose only regret is that they did not abort their children. I know a few of them too!
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Dear Anonymous
[Read the article: Pregnant and poor in Mississippi]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The CBS/New York Times poll of 5/18-23/07 shows that:
39% say abortion should be generally available
37% say it should be allowed, but with stricter limits
21% say it should not be allowed at all
3% say they are unsure.
I am in the 3% (I think.)
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Punishment for enjoying sex?
[Read the article: Pregnant and poor in Mississippi]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The woman who freely chooses her own sexual partners and engages in pleasurable sex on her own terms has stepped outside of the narrowly prescribed box of the category of "woman" and therefore, pregnancy is her punishment.
No, I am all in favor of women enjoying sex with the partner(s) of their choice. But if they choose to enjoy sex without benefit of contraception, they run the risk of getting pregnant, don't they? And that suggests that they are at least ambivalent about wanting to bear a child--at least in many cases, especially if they do it habitually.
Of course, there is never any mention of a man's "punishment" for having recreational sex—unless, of course, he is a homosexual... Except for having to pay child support for 18 years if his recreation results in the creation of a baby, (which homosexuals mostly don't, I should imagine).
I would actually agree with you that SOME of the prolife movement probably stems from people who are sex phobic acting out their own dislike of sex and of people who enjoy it, but I think this is only a small part of it, and that there are also lots of people who love sex very dearly who aren't very happy about the idea of abortion on demand and who no doubt think tht having unprotected recreational sex is irresponsible and to be discouraged.
And I suspect that many of the poor women such as described in this article are not so much gourmet recreational sex athletes as women who have very limited choices in life, and may not even have the choice of contraception if they want to keep the interest of the men in their lives. It is the men who are impregnating them and refusing to use contraception who are keeping them chained to the kitchen sink much more directly than the people who vote for politicians who vote for laws that restrict access to abortion.
The morning-after pill ought to be much more widely promoted. Children should be taught about it in schools, and it should be available everywhere without prescription. Every woman whom might need it should carry a kit in her purse. Free or low cost condoms should be widely available in places where women can get them--clinics, churches, colleges, anywhere that soap operas are watched...
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Politics as Normal
[Read the article: Hillary commutes her views on Libby]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's politics as normal. Libby has far too much dirt on Bush and Cheney to be allowed to go to jail and then squeal on his masters.
If I were president, given a choice between commuting Libby's sentence and having him finger me as the prime mover in the outing of Valerie Plame, I would commute like crazy.
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Fulanodetal
[Read the article: Bomb plot tests British again]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of the suspects was pulled out of the burning truck. That suggests to me that he had something to do with the attempted bombing. The other people were linked to him by cell phone calls or had attempted to make cell phone calls to cell phones that were attached to bombs. You don't find that a bit fishy?