Letters to the editor: Reaction to US Supreme Court's leaked opinion about abortion rights

Editor's note: The Beacon Journal received several letters in response to the leaked draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court on abortion rights. More letters can be seen at BeaconJournal.com.

Important to keep church, state separate

I’ve watched conservative politicians and commentators frame their desire to overturn Roe v. Wade as a religious imperative to save unborn children, whose life, they posit, begins at conception.

I’ve been frustrated with journalists who do not question them on their obligation to uphold our nation’s foundational principle of separation of church and state.

I would ask my conservative and religious neighbors to consider this (with the full disclosure that I have an ardent belief in God), that the God of Christianity and Judaism and Islam, gave his creation a set of preferred rules, and then had enough love and respect for him to give him the free will to make his own choices.

We have an imperative to save the democracy that we fought for and built. We founded it on liberty and individual choice. We have righteously (if so very slowly) extended those inalienable rights to women and people of color.

More: Kent State University students rally for reproductive rights

We don’t have to like the choices people make, but we have to defend their right to make them. Protecting all women’s rights, protects all women’s rights — and all humans’ rights.

Denying women certain of their legal rights, based on a religious objection, puts all of our rights at risk. Eventually there will be someone more conservative than you. They may want to take your weapons, television, right to gamble. They may limit your internet, right to contraception or a vasectomy, right to marry the person you love. They may decide you can’t work on a Sunday, or may imprison you for fornication out of wedlock.

You see my point. People should keep their right to a safe and legal abortion. We should support and respect them enough to make choices for themselves. God does.

Lora Gay, Sagamore Hills

Document leak is serious breach of trust

I would like to tell President Joe Biden that the leak to Politico from the U.S. Supreme Court is an egregious breach of trust by public servants of the American people and the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court and is a slap in the face to all public servants that serve all Americans. Even to the president.

Whoever leaked this draft of the Supreme Court should and must be put in prison for life, for breaking the trust of the American people, court justices and the president. Will Biden hold those that leaked document accountable? I hope and pray he will.

Robert Augustynovich, Barberton

Where has Congress been on issue?

Don’t you love the libs' nutso reaction to the illegally leaked Supreme Court paper? Why the insanity? It seems all it says is that people should get to vote on it. The libs are so used to this country being run by liberal judges that they don’t think people should get to vote. I heard the windbags saying Congress would pass an abortion bill this year to counter this. They have had 50 years. I bet that no such bill gets passed.

Carl Shay, Stow

Extreme anti-abortion laws violate rights

Recent articles about the leaked Supreme Court opinion and the March 27 articles about a Cuyahoga Falls abortion clinic, highlight the immediate danger of reproductive rights for all pregnant people.

While abortion thankfully is still legal in Ohio, it highlights the importance of speaking out against anti-choice laws and restrictions, and about supporting and voting for pro-choice candidates, who typically run as a Democrat.

Connie Schultz: To the women who support abortion rights, it's time to make a stand. This ends now.

I am so deeply concerned about the possibility of the court overturning Roe v. Wade and by doing so, not allowing for abortions in any cases of rape, incest or the health of the pregnant person, essentially making people handmaids by forcing them to give birth against their will — a violation of the rights and free will of every pregnant person.

Roe v. Wade must be codified into law as a protected legal right, and if it's not, I'm fearful of the kinds of anti-choice extremists who will “bounty hunt” pregnant people and harass and threaten their lives, and anyone who will help them.

I encourage everyone to speak out for the essential health care that is abortion care. I had one with no regrets, and I want everyone to be able to make that choice freely and without any restrictions.

Nancy Dollard, Lake Township

Draft ruling has only one focus

Your May 4 article regarding the norm-breaking early release of the Supreme Court's deliberations on Roe v. Wade and Casey noted that President Joe Biden "warned that other rights, including same-sex marriage and birth control are at risk if the court follows through." Apparently Biden did not read the whole draft, since its author, Justice Samuel Alito, stated, "We emphasize that our decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right." Your article also failed to note Alito's statement. On controversial matters, your readers deserve the whole story.

Raymond J. Adamek, Kent

Pain and suffering from tragic pregnancy

Regarding the April 30 article “Akron man suing Boy Scouts,” he is seeking $25,000 compensation and punitive damages for the trauma he endured after a former troop leader allegedly forced sexual contact.

I hope similar compensation will be included in the Ohio budget for the aftermath from Republicans' planned "trigger law" ban on abortion (“Ohio lawmakers debate bill that would trigger abortion ban,” May 3).

What if we calculated the unwanted suffering for a pregnancy from the rape of a child, not including the costs of medical expenses and loss of schooling and/or work. An average of $4 million per victim might be a good starting point.

If the state of Ohio is going to enact a “trigger law” ban on abortion, then it is imperative that just compensation be available and allocated to all female victims who are denied abortions for their emotional distress, economic loss, medical costs and psychological treatment.

Joanne Stanley, Green

Cannot put faith in the Supreme Court

Our highest court now has zero credibility. Thanks to Republicans who nominated and Republicans who confirmed Donald Trump's justices, the Supreme Court is now a joke to all but the far right. Might as well bury “liberty and justice for all” now, too. Make it “liberty and justice if you are a Republican, screw everyone else.”

Richard J. Kunkel, Wadsworth

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron area readers react to court's draft opinion on abortion