Letters to the editor: Local reactions to the SCOTUS leak on Roe
No man should be in charge of this decision
At 17 years old, having my first sexual experience, I got pregnant. Frightened about telling my mother, I called my grandmother. She found a doctor that had lost his license, charged $500 for an abortion and came to our apartment. He led me to my parents' bedroom and on the bed began, with no anesthetic, to scrape the fetus from my body. I was in bed bleeding for a week. I married five years later and over the years had 11 miscarriages and never gave birth to a baby.
This was a horrible experience and changing the Roe v Wade law will bring about this type of abortion again. No one — and especially men — should ever make that decision for a woman. Ever!
Marlene Pearson, Eugene
Lessons from my mom
My mother was ahead of her time. I grew up knowing I was loved and that I needed to challenge the inequities in life.
I also learned from my mom to take action, even though the consequences sometimes included losing relationships, jobs and promotions. As a 70-plus year old, I fought for women’s rights in sports, health care, jobs and all aspects of American life where women were not of equal value.
For those too young, I remember when women had no high school sports, got no pay to coach, were paid less than men as teachers, insurance didn’t pay for mammograms, Pap smears or birth control, women had to quit jobs if pregnant, could not get legal abortions, could not open a credit card without male permission, could not own a home or car as a single female, could not love whomever they wanted and could not be school leaders or administrators.
We overcame the obstacles in the path to equality. We are now headed back to 1955. We need to stand up and again be heard. Thank you, Mom, for teaching me to be courageous in light of draconian politicians who have become the American Taliban.
Cindee Robertson, Eugene
The dream of subjugation
Do you know what it feels like to have been fighting the battle for equal rights and protection for women and girls for seven decades? I can tell you, it feels like hell.
The knuckle-dragging troglodytes of the world will have women and girls legally bound to carry, birth and bear the burden of caring for the results of unwanted pregnancies. Even those pregnancies due to a man's illegal penetration of our bodies, whether stranger or incesting relative. Not content with that filthy obscene atrocity alone, these Republicans slather and drool like rabid dogs at the prospect of outlawing a woman or girl's right to take a damned pill.
Vile are the minds of these men and the male-identified woman who support them. Viler still are their crimes against women and girls.
To women and girls of all ages, and to all the men who love and will stand up for them, everyone of voting age must dedicate themselves to the principle that any vote for any Republican is a vote against our right to determine what goes into our bodies and when.
The driving force in the Republican Party is the dream of subjugating women to subservience.
Morgan Songi, Eugene
Making abortion safe and infrequent
As a doctor who has counseled women who are dealing with an unwanted pregnancy, I can tell you it is one of the worst moments in their lives. They aren’t all young and single. Many are married and already have children. Each has to make a decision that they will live with forever.
At this moment they need support, understanding and information. Being made to feel like a criminal and a sinner is the last thing they need.
In the best world all pregnancies are planned and welcome but we know this isn’t true. ALL methods of birth control have a failure rate, and there are situations when they are not used (rape or intoxication).
For all abortion opponents, please step forward and adopt or foster a child that has been neglected or abused. Support age-appropriate sex education. Make contraception easily available and inexpensive. Help provide financial and emotional support for women who choose to have the child with access to health care and day care.
No matter what laws are passed there will always be abortions. We can help to make them safe and infrequent.
Jonathan Levy, Eugene
Look to the Ninth and 14th Amendments
The five "activist," conservative associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court planning to scuttle Roe v. Wade's protection of legal abortion will be violating one of America's "privileges" and "rights."
These rights are written in the Constitution, in the 14th Amendment and the Ninth Amendment. The 14th states: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens. . ."
The Mississippi law under review by the court reduces the time interval of gestation for legal abortion from roughly 23 weeks ("viability" under Casey) down to 15 weeks. This would absolutely "abridge" the "privilege." The "privilege" of abortion, available in different places and times in America since 1776, was unequivocally granted by Roe v. Wade in 1973.
The unconstitutional Mississippi law is what Justice Samuel Alito wants to ride all the way to destroy Roe v. Wade.
The Ninth Amendment states: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
At the time the 9th was ratified in 1791, I am not aware there was any law prohibiting abortion.
Leo W. Quirk, Corvallis
But don't conservatives hate government overreach?
Why isn’t the right to choose protected by the First Amendment’s freedom from religion? The Catholic Church and white Protestant evangelicals believe that life begins at conception. Almost all other religions don’t. The Bible and Torah clearly state that life begins with the first breath.
In Islam, the fetus becomes an individual around 120 days after fertilization, and Judaism considers the first 40 days to be “as water.” The Supreme Court is forcing the views of a radical religious minority on the vast majority. Polls indicate around two-thirds support for abortion. Radical Republicans would not allow abortion in the case of rape, incest, threat to the life of the mother or severe fetal abnormality. Common ground would be universal health care with free contraceptives so there are fewer unplanned pregnancies and 80% fewer abortions.
Some Republican lawmakers are also criminalizing contraceptives and IVF. Gay and mixed marriages would soon be next. Women with ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages could soon be thrown in jail along with their doctors. This is big government overreach, by activist partisan judges, which takes away the liberty and freedom of half of the people in the country.
Isn’t that what conservatives say they hate?
Jerry Brule, Eugene
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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Letters: Local reactions to SCOTUS leak on Roe v. Wade
