It's wrong to force beliefs on others

I am writing in response to the uproar over the Aurora Planned Parenthood clinic.

As Americans we have the right to believe what we choose to believe is right within ourselves. What we shouldn't do as Americans is force our belief on others.

Planned Parenthood is a clinic operating within the law to help women make a choice and hopefully the right choice for them. Planned Parenthood is there for women who need assistance in many areas such as sexual and reproductive health care, birth control, family planning, gynecological care, STD testing and treatment and pregnancy testing. If a woman chooses abortion as the choice best for them, there has to be a safe, clean and legal environment to do it in.

It's never an easy choice. I am not a proponent of abortion. Quite the contrary, I do not believe in it for myself. However, what I do believe in is that an individual has a right to make a legal decision that is best for them under what could be some very tough circumstances.

I come from an era when abortion was not legal. It was an era where women and especially many teens had nowhere to turn but to back-alley "clinics" and go to horrible lengths in order to obtain an abortion. Thank God I was never faced with such a decision, but some girls I knew weren't so fortunate and one of my good friends almost died because she was forced to a choice of going to someone who had no credentials and no post-op care. She almost bled to death. I watched her make the most heart-wrenching decision of her life and then almost die over it. It wasn't an easy choice and it still haunts her, but she feels it was the right choice for her at that time, whether I agree with it or not.

The fact is abortions are legal -- like it or not. Protesting to keep clinics out or closed is not the answer! Forcing ones belief's on someone else is not the answer. The answer lies within those who are faced with many choices. The answer is educating people better. The answer is to have a clean, safe and legal place for people to turn.

Cheryl Bast

South Elgin