Clinic supporter's flawed arguments

I'm not sure where to begin responding to Jenny Sikora's Sept. 29 letter to Fence Post regarding the Planned Parenthood facility in Aurora. I won't start by asking how she knows that her blood pressure "literally goes up" when she passes the protesters.

Sikora says she can't understand why people won't "look past the abortion factor." First of all, the crux of the court battle over the facility is not about abortion. It is about Planned Parenthood being deceptive on its permit applications, using the name of one of their front companies (Gemini Office Development) instead of the actual name of the conceived facility. However, since she brings it up, I'll answer her on abortion, also.

Sikora says that society can't stop people from having sex, and that those who oppose abortion should come up with other solutions. Here are some to try: Parents can stop counting on society to raise their kids in the first place. Parents can instill a sense of responsibility and self-restraint in their kids. Abortion is just another quick fix of a decadent society that trains people to avoid responsibility for their actions.

Sikora says that "most pro-lifers do not believe in birth control." I invite her to provide data supporting that statement. In fact, according to a poll by National Public Radio, 80 percent of self-described pro-lifers do support contraception.

She asks who fights for the children who aren't aborted, and goes on to answer, "not them (pro-lifers)." I'd like her to say that to the volunteers at my church who provide free day care services to single parents, or to the rest of us who financially support such services.

She says that it's "awful and totally unacceptable" for children to see dead and mangled babies on the posters of the protesters. What is awful and unacceptable is that it is often children themselves who cause such babies to be killed and mangled.

Hubert Humphrey said that "the moral test of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life ..."

Sikora is asking the wrong question. The question isn't who will fight for the children who are born. The question is who will fight for those who aren't born?

Tyler Benjamin

Wheaton