Editor, Times-Union: Linda, you ignored literally every single thing that I talked about in my letter, including cold hard facts that you referred to as “ignorant.” If you can’t accept the truth for what it is, then I cannot reason with you. As for your religious tirade ... in your original letter you spoke of how the First Amendment was the most important to you. I hope you recognize that the First Amendment protects religious freedom. Therefore, you reconciling your beliefs on abortion with your religion is irrelevant because your religion does not ring true for everyone in America. The fact of the matter is that making abortion illegal does not lower the abortion rate. Abortion rates are at their lowest when contraceptives are made readily available, something Republicans have fought against repeatedly. It has nothing to do with legislature. You calling abortion “murder” and throwing around made-up statistics is propaganda. You cannot make blanket statements about abortion being murder when some abortions are to save lives (if the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life), prevent physical pain and suffering to the mother and baby (trisomy 13 & 18), and to prevent severe emotional trauma (rape and incest). And regardless of the reasoning, it doesn’t need to be justified to anyone other than the woman’s doctor. You cannot put a fetus before a grown woman by forcing her to carry to term. Every woman has a right to choose what she does and doesn’t do with her own body. If a woman wants an abortion, no one’s opinion matters, apart from her health care provider’s and her own. You need to keep your opinion out of uteruses, they’re doing just fine without it. Plus, you know the best part of having safe access to abortions? You can choose (for your own uterus) not to have one. This will be my last response to your pro-birth nonsense. Kaci Scheve Warsaw, via email
