Letters: Attack on St. Joseph County Health Department alarming, offensive

Letters to the Editor
·2 min read
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It's hard to determine which is most offensive and alarming about St. Joseph County Commissioner Deb Fleming's recent attack on our Department of Health: Fleming's hypocrisy, her inaccuracies, her snark and lack of respect for those who have dedicated themselves to serving us or her demonstrated lack of understanding of the breadth of basic responsibilities our health care experts have to keep us all physically and mentally healthy.

First, Fleming accuses the department of injecting itself into the "politics of this issue," yet her entire Viewpoint is nothing but an expression of her own personal politics. Second, she identifies the "issue" as being "abortion," yet the Department of Health press release clearly speaks to health risks from any potential changes in Indiana's current exceptions to abortion restrictions, not abortion in absolute terms.

Third, she wrongly accuses the Health Department of "misleading" women, yet she is the one who grossly misleads. In a department publication the definition of "spontaneous abortion" is listed under the heading "Definitions of Abortion Used in Medical Practice." This heading is not only in large all-caps, but in a different color ink, yet Fleming either intentionally or ignorantly confuses the clearly spelled out medical definition of a miscarriage with her version of "legal" abortion.Women's health is an issue to be dealt with seriously, and Fleming's piece reads like it was written by someone unfamiliar with and antagonistic to the duties of the Department of Health. We deserve better.

Michael McManus

South Bend

Gun control

In June, the U.S. Senate passed its first gun control legislation in decades. The mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde finally forced the Senate’s hand. The legislation did not address mass shooters’ weapon of choice: AR-15 assault rifles. That subject was a non-starter to produce legislation that would require bipartisan support.

Mike Braun, whose "guns, God and President Trump” TV commercials helped get him elected to the Senate, voted no. Sen. Todd Young, facing an election, voted for the legislation. Young’s press release regarding the legislation states “I support this targeted legislation because it takes prudent steps to address our mental health crisis and combat violent crime without compromising the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Hoosiers.”

Assault rifles are designed to minimize the time it takes to inflict catastrophic damage to a maximum number of people. There is no other purpose for these personal weapons of mass-destruction. Aiden McCarthy, 2, went to a parade with his parents on July 4. He was an orphan when he left. Cooper Roberts, 8, attended the same parade. Cooper is now paralyzed. He has had seven surgeries and hasn’t made it home from the parade yet. Stories like this will continue unabated unless voters replace legislators who refuse to connect assault rifles with the lives that these weapons crush.

Phil Sullivan

South Bend

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Public officials attack on St. Joe County Healtn Department offensive.