Thanks to letter writer Fran Martone for her excellent letter on ways to reduce abortion (Voice of the people, Feb. 12). Sex has been here to stay since the dawn of humans, and reproductive freedom is a basic human right for both men and women, straight and gay. But nobody likes to see abortions. There is always the dilemma of when life begins. I myself do not believe human life begins at conception. Though conception is one of God’s everyday miracles, half of all fertilized eggs are not implanted in the womb. Yet I believe once the egg is implanted, it becomes more and more a baby as time goes on. I believe, as a proud member of Planned Parenthood, that ideally every child should be a wanted child. I would not deny an abortion to a 14-year-old girl who finds herself pregnant, or a 49-year-old woman who feels she is too old to have another child. I would not impose my standards on something so basic to someone else’s life. Yet I consider abortion a last resort.
I would much rather see society encourage birth control for both men and women.
In this day of DNA testing to determine paternity and laws requiring child support, there’s plenty of incentive for both sexes to be careful.
