Letters to the editor | Sunday, May 15, 2022: Differing views on abortion

Abortion is no one’s business ...

SCOTUS members are supposed to park their party affiliation and religious bias baggage at the door to chambers. Good luck with that. Roe v. Wade is not pretty. Never was. The failure to codify that decision is what makes it vulnerable today.

Reproductive rights should be, frankly, nobody else’s business. Women aren’t chattel anymore, and marital rape no longer goes unpunished. Yet an unplanned or enforced pregnancy can destroy a woman’s chance of a good education, job prospects, the career she already excels at, and compromise the futures of the children she already may have. What of their lives, and the right to pursuit of happiness? On this issue, apparently, the Constitution can go chase itself.

So if a woman terminates a pregnancy, can’t pay the fine and goes to prison, who feeds and educates her existing kids? We could demand that SCOTUS members who overturn Roe v. Wade foot the bill. Good luck with that, too.

And in the interest of equality under the law, another foundation supported by the Constitution, what say we decide that all felons and dead-beat dads be chemically castrated and deprived of their rights?

Cheryl Wolford, Oakdale

... with two exceptions

How is it that we make things so contentious that are in fact so simple? There should be no laws or regulations, federal or state, concerning abortion. Period.

Simply stated, the decision to bear a child lies with the two people who created the child.

John Everett Arnold, Modesto

It’s for the lazy and stupid

In the year 2022 are pro-abortion women seriously not able to figure out how babies are made or how conceiving a human life can be prevented? Women, don’t you follow or understand the science? You want to be liberated women, you are CEOs, leaders in business, schools, homes, government and in society, and yet you are not able to plan ahead to be prepared to prevent a pregnancy. Medically speaking there is no logical excuse; society has made birth control free and easy to access for your convenience. Are you really that lazy? Seriously do you really want to appear that stupid?

Unplanned pregnancies happen. Some of them are truly accidents, some are truly from tragic events, but come on, women. “My body, my choice” — how about “My brain, I’m going to use it.” Where is your self-control, your integrity? How can you sacrifice a human life for a few moments of pleasure? Women today should be ashamed of their self-indulged, selfish, short-sighted decisions.

I am not even going to mention all the men who have taken advantage of your stupidity and weakness for so many years. Stop your excuses.

Jill Wolfinbarger, Jamestown

Don’t forget the father

Those stories you may have been told as a toddler, the ones about storks delivering babies or them being magically found in some Central Valley cabbage patch, were not true. In the abortion debate it seems men on both sides are getting a walk-away-free pass. No matter what your stance, it is your debate, too. Man Up.

Jack Heinsius, Modesto

Save Mart wasn’t saved

When I read that Save Mart, a private, well-run company, was being sold to a private equity investment firm, shivers went down my spine. Recollection of the fate of a former Modesto department store, Mervyn’s, came to mind. The primary goal of private equity firms is to find businesses that will generate money to pay off the debt financing that allowed for the purchase in the first place. Not only do the investors or banks need to be paid back with interest, but the owners of the investment company, in this case Kingswood Capital Management, are not working for free.

The new owners have a huge overhead expense that Save Mart never had, but I thought maybe these guys were different. Well, lo and behold the promises to keep the company’s “family feel” have been flushed down the drain along with employees’ hard-earned health care retirement benefits.

I was shocked at how fast these cuts had come, but not surprised. It is the modus operandi of private equity. The “Capital Management” part of its name refers to new investors, not the current or former Save Mart employees. Kingswood found a cash cow and will milk it for everything it has.

Robert LeFevre, Modesto

Keep Withrow around

The best candidate for District 3 is Supervisor Terry Withrow. Over the past 12 years I got to know him very well. He has been a champion for the South Ninth Street neighborhood, underserved communities in Stanislaus County and Wood Colony. He has been to my home and neighborhood to see firsthand the problems we face when businesses circumvent county policy for personal gain.

We were there when Wood Colony began talking about forming their own municipal advisory council. Farmland is precious and should not be sold for personal gain. Land within the sphere of influence of cities can be utilized, or revitalize and repurpose existing buildings.

This race is not about Democrat, Republican, or ethnicity. It is about integrity, results, and true support of communities. Being a supervisor is not about a 15-minute photo opportunity. Terry has been present for so many in this county — not just talking about what he might do, but by his actions and personal support. Supervisor Terry Withrow is in it for the long haul and not for Facebook likes.

Rebecca Ortega Harrington, Modesto

Assembly needs Condit

Chad Condit has the right experience and fortitude to represent Stanislaus and Merced counties effectively in the State Legislature. Our Valley needs a leader, not a partisan puppet who will bow down to party leadership in Sacramento. Chad will always do what’s best for the Central Valley, not what’s best for party leadership.

Chad opposes the early release policy that has allowed violent criminals to be set free earlier than their formal sentence.

When voting on June 7, consider Navy veteran Chad Condit, who we know will fight for us.

Angie Smith, Ceres

A bright idea

We can make a huge dent in poverty and climate change by spending California’s budget surplus on installation of solar panels on people’s houses. They can be required to pay for cleaning and connection fees. Those costs are about $550 per year for me. I am sure the state can work out a deal.

Annette Hendricks, Modesto

Were they really good old days?

Many who condemn the automobile for pollution seem to imagine a pre-automobile society very different from the way the world was in fact. The streets of New York City in the 19th century were an example: much of the muck followed from unavoidable reliance on horses — 40,000 of them, who each working day generated some 400 tons of manure, 20,000 gallons of urine and almost 200 carcasses. Do you really wanna go back to the good all days?

John Mendosa, Ceres

Russian cruelty backstory

It would be an insult to all animals to label Russians animals as we see their behavior in Ukraine.

The Russians have always been cruel dating back to Ivan the Terrible, the first czar who slaughtered millions of people and killed his own son. When conscripts enter the military, they are savagely beaten by seniors members, all their personal belongings are stolen, they are made to clean toilets and they are often raped.

Russia has the highest rate of alcoholism in the world at 36% and women are not exempt. Russia has millions of orphans as many parents are either alcoholics or drug abusers. I have been to Russia and have seen the drinking start at a young age. I have seen boys as young as 11 or 12 walking drunk down the street.

A majority of Russians live in dilapidated soviet-era apartments of 400 to 600 square feet. And because pensioners receive on average $224 per month, they usually live with their families in these apartments because they cannot afford to rent their own place.

Combine alcoholism, lack of education and cruelty and we can see why the Russians are doing what they are in Ukraine.

Alan Seliger, Turlock