Abortion ruling, death of freedom

Re “High court backs ban on disputed abortion method,” April 19

When U.S. senators voted on the nominations of Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., they took a serious gamble on women’s health. Today, women and families are the real losers. This is the first federal law banning abortion that the Supreme Court has upheld. The ban, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in 2003, criminalizes abortions in the early second trimester of pregnancy that doctors say are safe and the best way to protect women’s health. With this decision, the court took away an important option for doctors who seek to provide the best and safest care for their patients. The court told women that politicians, not doctors, will make healthcare decisions for them. It is a dark day for women’s health and safety, and it is high time for Congress to stop playing politics and start focusing on real solutions for women and families.

MARY-JANE WAGLE

President and

chief executive

Planned Parenthood

Los Angeles

*

The Supreme Court decision regarding so-called partial-birth abortions is outrageous. These rare, late-term abortions are almost always to save the life of the mother and are heartbreaking for the woman, her family and her doctor. The decision is never taken lightly. This is all about a bunch of men deciding about a woman’s right to choice about her life and her body. If this were a just world, the five concurring justices would be impeached and deprived of their lifelong positions.

JOANNE C. MURRAY

Santa Barbara

*

I commend the Supreme Court for upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Although the term “choice” may sound democratic, the person who opts for abortion is neglecting to consider the fundamental right to life of the mother’s unborn fetus. Today, in many people’s consciences, the gravity of abortion has become obscured. The acceptance of abortion in the popular mind, in behavior and even in law itself is a telling sign of an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense, which is becoming more and more incapable of distinguishing between good and evil, even when the fundamental right to life is at stake. To claim the right to abortion and recognize that right in law means to attribute to human freedom a perverse and evil significance: that of an absolute power over others and against others. This is the death of true freedom.

PAUL KOKOSKI

Hamilton, Canada

*

Re “Turnaround on abortion,” editorial, April 19

It is despicable to find The Times’ editorial spouting the rhetoric of Planned Parenthood. “Dilation and extraction” is a euphemism for a barbaric procedure that qualifies as infanticide. Most Americans recognize this and passed laws to stop such inhumane cruelty. But The Times hates to see even one small step that may endanger the right to abortion foisted on this country. You should be ashamed.

MARY CURTIUS

Carlsbad