There are worse things than abortion

I thought Bob Rudny's letter of Jan. 10 calling for a day of prayer on Inauguration Day one of the most ridiculous letters ever written in the history of the written word.

The persistently annoying pro-lifers seem to think that the only qualification for being a good President is to be pro-life. Perhaps they are too busy reading their Bibles to bother reading the newspaper, but eight years of George Bush have practically destroyed this country, and taken the world along with it. The economy is collapsing on all fronts, 401(k)s have evaporated, and a million people have been thrown out of work. Crime is up in the cities, pollution levels are up because of years of neglect and indifference, our national debt is up into numbers that are beyond comprehension. Several wars are being waged across the globe, with more threatening every day. The list goes on and on. Abortion is the least of our problems.

I think it's a far greater sin to bring children into this world when you can't even care for the ones we already have. A story in the Herald Jan. 6 is a superb example. The story was about a teen mother who was watering down her infant formula to make it last longer because she couldn't afford it, and she almost ended up starving her child to death. If someone who cared had counseled this young mother to have an abortion instead, that problem would have never occurred. This girl, and many like her, obviously can't afford to feed the child and clearly doesn't need the child. People like Bob Rudny should be a little more concerned with the countless millions roaming about this planet already - the unemployed, the hungry, the uneducated, the unloved - before he starts worrying about those not yet born yet.

Tim Schmidgall

Elgin