Letters: Court's Roe decision will hurt women

Court's Roe decision will hurt women

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, it won't matter what a woman or girl believes about abortion. If she finds herself in an untenable position, she will be desperate enough to find someone to terminate her pregnancy. As an RN in the ‘50s and early ‘60s, before Roe v. Wade became the law, I saw my share of desperate women and young girls near death from losing so much blood because they had an illegal abortion. We don’t want go back to those days when desperate women and girls risked their lives by allowing someone with no medical expertise insert unsterile objects into them to terminate their pregnancies. The Court needs to listen to us.

Peggy Butler, West Palm Beach

High Court's veracity at stake

I have been reluctant to post anything political over the past several months but the impending reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision compels me to vent my feelings. During the confirmation hearings, Justices Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Gorsuch asserted unequivocally that the Roe decision was settled law. Their concurrence in this reversal, authored by Justice Alito, calls into question their honesty.

A key rationale for Alito’s reasoning is that the word "abortion" does not appear in the Constitution and thus cannot be a “right.” He asserts it is up to the states and their legislatures to handle abortion rights. Beyond the issue of whether this decision is consistent with past legal principles and rulings, it will be seen by many as nothing more than the imposition of the personal views that appear to be rooted in religious background. The current majority has therefore called into question the very impartiality and reliability of the one branch of government which has recently been the check on the abuses of other branches. A sad day in our history.

Harold M. Buttitta, Boynton Beach

An alternative to abortion: care

A woman absolutely should have the right to control her health needs. However, when she is pregnant, her health needs include the living embryo inside her. The health of that potential child is also her responsibility. To that end, I propose a new, modern version of the orphanage system. I believe that a combination of charitable, religious, civil and government aid should build or re-establish facilities for the birth of unwanted children. Mothers to be will then receive proper medical care and a chance to have their child adopted by those Americans who fly around the world every year looking for the country in vogue with available, adoptable children. Every state should have one or more of these hospital-orphanage facilities. Women with unwanted pregnancies deserve a better choice than killing the child within her and so does the child.

Marty Pine, Boynton Beach

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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Roe v. Wade decision detrimental to women, High Court and rule of law