Governor’s Race Should Highlight ‘Choice’

In “Abortion Isn’t Just a Federal Issue” (Commentary, April 2), Nancy Sasaki makes several good points but leaves out a most important fact: It’s not just other legislatures around the country that are introducing anti-abortion laws. Bill Simon’s own party has crafted one of the more noxious anti-abortion bills, AB 2537, which would require any woman seeking an abortion to obtain (and, apparently, pay for) an ultrasound. It would then require the woman to view the ultrasound before she could have her abortion.

I would like to know whether Simon, who tries to pretend he wouldn’t have much to do about abortion as governor, would sign a bill like this. The fact that there is even a question about what he would do about such grotesque legislation makes him unfit to govern.

David Link

Pasadena

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Sasaki’s commentary on abortion states, “Californians live in a state that sets the standard for protecting a woman’s right to family planning.” Sounds to me if a woman is considering an abortion that her “family planning” wasn’t planned at all. How perfect that Gov. Gray Davis, who couldn’t plan anything other than a fund-raiser, is in charge of protecting this so-called right.

Frank Collier

Long Beach

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Sasaki consistently uses the word “anti-choice,” supposedly in reference to people who are pro-life. I would like to correct her by saying that all pro-life people are pro-choice. We choose to make reproductive choices before a child is created. And once a child is created we choose to give the child life rather than murder it.

Karen Gatchel

Camarillo

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It’s sad to see that the issues getting focused on have little impact on the daily lives of most Californians. The next governor will not be able to overturn Roe vs. Wade, so the abortion fight should be saved for Supreme Court nominations. There are areas of the abortion issue that could be addressed by the governor, but how many people will actually be directly affected by the issue?

Certainly not as many as those who are affected by the real issues: the economy, education and electricity. These are the issues that need immediate attention by the candidates, the issues that directly affect every Californian, not just minority interest groups.

John Irwin

Arcadia