Facts of abortion must be understood
The Sept. 18 letter to the Fence Post by Jeff Biss, regarding the proposed Planned Parenthood clinic, is incomplete.
When talking with my friends, I find there are as many different pro-choice folks as there are pro-life. A small minority believe in unlimited or partial-birth abortion. Some believe the first 12 weeks. Others feel that being raped gives one the moral right to abort the conception. Some believe that a malformed baby/fetus should be aborted. From these examples one can extrapolate a hundred more situations.
On the pro-life side there are also many different beliefs. A largely pictorial book, written by Swedish Emmy Award winner Dr. Lennart Nilsson, called "A Child is Born" (1990) shows the incremental development of a child/fetus from almost the instant of conception to birth. At the time of its initial publication, Nilsson was accused of faking the highly-detailed in-vitro photos. Photos such as these were very disconcerting and never seen before. It was cutting-edge technology.
When talking with my "pro-life" friends, I also hear many different versions. Many are pro-life but. But, if the girl is only 12 years old? But, if pregnant when one is 50 years old? But, what if it tests for some terrible malformation? Just as many variations as my pro-choice friends.
What should be noted is women and children are making very serious choices of life and death without ever being shown what they are doing. You never hear of someone seeking an abortion asking for a second opinion.
The pro-choice Supreme Court decision was a political decision. It did not consider or address what it was that was being aborted, it only dealt with the female's "rights." As any attorney will tell you, the court did a tap dance around the question of what was life, and we ended up with "privacy."
This is the law of the land and must be followed. For the person having an abortion it is not a "political" decision; it is a very physical and mental decision. As with any operation, shouldn't one be given full, bias-free information so that children and adults can truly make an informed decision to choose? Is this being done?
D.O. Lipensky
Wheaton