Women’s Role in Society

Your June 19th issue contains some interesting contrasts. Grasping at a rationale for keeping women out of combat (and away from power), retired Marine Gen. Robert Barrow says women are too “nurturing” to kill: “If you want to make a combat unit ineffective, assign women to it.” But Sidney Callahan’s column (Commentary) affirms that terminating even the earliest pregnancy is killing, and women who have abortions are morally culpable.

This produces a curious outcome. When men terminate the lives of adults and children--preferably of Third World extraction--they’re heroes and become eligible for special recognition. When women terminate pregnancies--even at a stage in which the human embryo is indistinguishable from that of other vertebrates--they’re killers and become eligible for moral opprobrium. What a system!

MARGARET DAUGHERTY

El Segundo