Dr. Henry Foster and Abortion
* I find the column by Adela de la Torre (May 17) a contradiction. She advocates the nomination of Dr. Henry Foster for surgeon general even while she speaks of her own abortion experience as “a scream [that] leapt from the depths of my soul.” Even after 15 years, this pain is very real for her. Is this what she wants for her daughters also? I believe in “choice” too, but the choice is made before sexual intercourse, not after.
KATHRYN HRONEC
Rancho Palos Verdes
* In saying women must speak out about their abortions, De la Torre made a powerful and important point. But her emphasis on these women’s “pain” carries surprisingly regressive implications.
I was a very messed-up 17-year-old with a very serious drinking problem when my 21-year-old boyfriend promised me that it was impossible to get pregnant on the 10th day after menstruation. Of course, I got pregnant.
The only “pain,” physical or mental, I experienced from having an abortion was social stigma. I innately knew I was not doing anything wrong, but on the contrary, something very right. The most selfish, childish thing I could have done was have a baby. As a multi-generational abuse survivor, I almost surely would have been an abusive parent and exposed a child to violent men like the stepfather whose physical and sexual abuse resulted in my own hospitalization as a child.
Eventually, I got off alcohol, got into therapy and began college, later graduating as the academically outstanding senior of my department--an unlikely course for a teen-age mother.
I will not be ashamed of having an abortion. It’s one of the smartest, most selfless things I’ve ever done.
JULIE CASEY
West Hollywood
* I was certainly saddened by De la Torre’s story. But I definitely cannot fathom the pain the fetus had to suffer when she opted to abort it for the sake of her Ph.D.
Her culprits may have been the graduate school faculty at her alma mater (and mine), manufacturers of the IUD she was using, the technician who installed the device, the gentleman she allowed to impregnate her and more than anyone--herself, who at certain moment of passion said yes. But I cannot see what the unborn had done to draw the death sentence.
SYED S. SHERE
Los Angeles
* I agree with several statements by De la Torre. People really need to put a human face on the term “choice.” It would obviously be the faces of millions of unborn babies whose lives are cut short each year because of abortion. It is the face of a young unwed woman ignorant of the facts and alternative options and resources available to pregnant women today. The natural choice for life is not based solely on the religious right as De la Torre stated. It lies in the universal right for every human on this planet to have life. The child with a beating heart inside his or her mother’s womb is not excluded from this right. De la Torre begs people to understand “what abortion really means to poor women.” The abortion industry is aimed at these victims. They are allowing abortion to become a way to solve the welfare problem. The reality is that it is cheaper to a kill a baby by abortion than to support him or her on welfare. It is not permissible to solve the welfare problem by intentionally killing another innocent human being. Abortion is a violent action against an unwanted pregnancy.
All people should know the facts about abortion and the positive alternatives available to all women and families who are considering abortion.
KAREN M. JAMIESON
President, Students for Life
Loyola Marymount University
Los Angeles
* If Republican senators really want to significantly reduce the number of abortions in this country, they should not filibuster or otherwise oppose the nomination of Dr. Foster to be surgeon general. Let’s consider the alternatives. If not confirmed, Dr. Foster may perform one abortion in the next year (38 in his 39 years of medical practice) and prevent a few thousand unwanted pregnancies (and abortions) in Tennessee and perhaps a few other states with his “I Have A Future” program for teen-agers.
If he confirmed, he will not perform any abortions personally and he will, with the President’s support and hopefully Congress’, attempt to carry out his “I Have A Future” program nationally--reducing teen-age pregnancies by perhaps half a million or more annually and reducing the number of abortions by at least half that number.
STEPHANIE NORDLINGER
Los Angeles
* Cal Thomas (Column Right, May 11) says that Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich “wants to frame the argument by asking both sides: ‘How can we lower the number of abortions?’ ”
How’s this? Make sex education a mandatory part of the junior high school curriculum. Make condoms available at no cost. Work with groups such as Planned Parenthood instead of attacking them as part of political strategy.
Cal? Newt? Ball’s in your court.
DAVID M. SHERR
Santa Monica