Readers React: The abortion dilemma: It’s an important right because it involves ending a life
To the editor: Two letter writers, one the state director of NARAL Pro-Choice California, seem thoughtful in expressing their concern about the prospect of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade. As someone who has daughters and granddaughters, I understand their concerns.
Now, I seek their help in trying to understand how the following thought fits into the abortion issue:
It would seem to me that it is only because a fetus is a living, developing human, abortion is needed or undertaken. If that were not the case, the need would not arise.
As reasonable self-defense against the risk of pregnancy that happens because of rape, ending such an individual’s existence might well be an appropriate step. But to undertake the ending of an individual existence as a matter of convenience, comfort, privacy, economics or choice surely seems a very slippery slope concerning how we as a society treat life. Surely the value of each individual must be a core constitutional issue.
Please, help me with this dilemma.
Michael S. Demaree, Irvine
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