April 4, 2006
A bortion.
I have a Google News alert for the words "botched abortion," as I wait for the current climate to have its inevitable effect of death and disfigurement of women. Today it triggered on an op-ed piece in the Arizona Star by one Cynthia Duell, "Emotion shouldn't drive decision to abort."
She's, um, anti-abortion.
So I decided to reply with a letter to the editor, CC'd directly to her, gcombsc@comcast.net. For what it's worth, here it is in its entirety:
This is a response to your recent opinion piece by Cynthia Duell; I am also sending a copy directly to her.
Ms. Duell, while I appreciate and agree with your assertion that one should make decisions such as those relating to abortion rationally, the fact remains that pregnancy brings with it emotion. Whether those feelings are positive or negative depends entirely upon the individuals involved and their circumstances. An unwanted pregnancy, whether due to failure of birth control (even the Pill isn't completely reliable) or to simple carelessness, is going to bring with it extremely strong feelings. Those feelings will influence the decision, no matter what you or I may say.
Further, the decision to have an abortion can indeed be a perfectly rational one. You may assert that such an act is "a transgression of common morality and common sense" but that is, I'm afraid, your opinion only. There are many who find that act to be the least bad of a number of terrible alternatives.
Make no mistake, the decision to have an abortion is a weighty one and one that no one enters into lightly, no matter who might claim otherwise. Unfortunately, in many cases it is is, as I said, the least bad of the possible choices.
Personally, I do not pretend to know how someone else may choose. My morality isn't yours and my choices are not yours. I will not try to make your choices for you and I expect the same from you. The choice to have an abortion is in fact one that is too important to be left to politicians, judges and the clergy. It is such an important and momentous decision that it can only be made by the woman involved.
Finally, I think that you grossly overstate the case when you refer to potential complications of abortion. Might I also point out that all of these are in fact also potential complications of miscarriage, which happens without a doctor involved, and many are complications of pregnancy itself! Also, when you claim that statistics of complications related to abortion are "without a doubt" incomplete, because "abortion doctors" underreport those complications, I must demand that you back up your assertion with proof. I believe that this is only your opinion, which you are stating as if it is fact.
Thank you for your attention.
Yours,
Frank Mayhar
Redondo Beach, California
