Sunday's letters: Readers react to Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade
The facts: What does abortion ruling mean?
With all the hysteria and lack of knowledge surrounding the SCOTUS abortion decision, this is my attempt to inform the uninformed.
The SCOTUS decision does not prohibit abortion. The Supreme Court does not make laws requiring or prohibiting anything. It rules on the constitutionality of lower court rulings. While precedent is considered, it does not preclude correcting prior bad law.
Roe v. Wade was decided 49 years ago. Likewise, it was 58 years before Brown v. Board of Education corrected Plessy v. Ferguson, which permitted segregation of schools in the Jim Crow South.
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The result of the court’s decision on Dobbs v. Mississippi (which banned abortion after 15 weeks), overturning Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, merely returns the issue to the states.
A majority of Americans favor some limitations on abortions. If your representatives’ limits don’t align with yours, vote them out.
This decision does not in any way infringe on the right to gay marriage or contraception. They are protected by the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
This issue is already being politicized and lied about. Don’t look at record inflation, looming recession, lack of border security and the price of gas. Just stay outraged about "unreproductive" rights.
Thomas Smith, Sarasota
Give anti-abortion views a fair hearing
I celebrate the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, and I want to dispel a few common mainstream media distortions.
First, my conversion from pro-abortion rights to anti-abortion was in large measure due to the influence of female friends, and later my wife. Females who oppose abortion are typically ignored, downplayed or demonized in the mainstream.
Secondly, the misleading claim that those who are anti-abortion base their view solely on religion is inexcusable. Becoming religious did open me up to the evidence of what abortion was in reality.
But my religion is also against racism, unjust wars, abuse of animals and the environment, and much more. Why is it that I am depicted as a religious fanatic only if I oppose abortion, but not these other issues?
I have reasons to oppose abortion that are based on the science of child development, logic, personal experience of a paternal instinct and the testimony of trusted people.
Please give a fair hearing to men and women who oppose abortion. We are people with opinions in a competitive marketplace of ideas, not caricatures to shout at and threaten.
Timothy Shipe, Sarasota
Justices’ faith may have influenced ruling
My friend’s priest says that life begins at the moment of conception.
Another friend’s rabbi says that life begins when a baby takes its first breath. Before that, the mother’s life is what matters.
Another friend’s imam says that human life begins four months after conception.
Six Roman Catholic justices on our Supreme Court just decided that the priest is right. (FYI: Only 22% of people in the U.S identify as Roman Catholic.)
Is this the freedom of religion our Founding Fathers envisioned?
Pete Tannen, Sarasota
Never fear, women will get abortions
To my pro-abortion rights sisters, calm down! The Roe v. Wade reversal will not prevent you from getting those two pills: one that starves the baby and one that expels it.
It will not stop the suctioning of the contents of your uterus and the counting of baby parts to ensure against sepsis.
You will not be prevented from injecting a saline solution into your womb to burn the baby to death before delivering it and having a scalpel introduced into your uterus to dismember the baby before expelling it.
Be assured that you will still have the option of “donating” your baby’s body parts for research, as caring nonprofits encourage you to do.
All of these procedures are still guaranteed. You’ll just have to go to a pro-abortion rights state to do them.
Margaret Yerman, Venice
How to respond to Roe v. Wade decision
There are three ways to support women after the Supreme Court ended Roe:
Affirm women’s primacy of conscience, autonomy and accountability for moral decisions about their reproductive health, well-being and the viability of life in the womb.
Vote for political candidates who oppose criminalizing abortion and who support access to free birth control as an effective means of preventing abortions.
Advocate for policies and programs that offer child care, housing, education and jobs for low-income families.
Bridget Mary Meehan, Sarasota
Require fathers to support unwanted babies
Where are all the potential fathers? If a woman must carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, does that not legally require the father to contribute to 18 years of financial support for his child?
Joan Hatch, Sarasota
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Readers react to Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade
