Dear Editor,
I would like to applaud Gregory Twiford's well-thought-outcolumn in Friday's paper. Abortion is a difficult subject totackle, and Twiford delivered an intelligent and sensitiveopinion.
I am pro-choice. This statement often gets me horrified looks,and that saddens me. There is an incredible misconception about theterm "pro-choice" in America, especially in the Midwest. Therefore,I would like to stress a point that many fail to grasp: Pro-choicedoes not necessarily mean pro-abortion.
Pro-choice means exactly what it says. It means I feel thatwomen have the right to choose. I, and many others who arepro-choice, do not necessarily feel that abortion is a good thing.I know many women who are pro-choice that would never have anabortion, but they feel that their opinions do not give them theright to tell others what to do with their bodies and theirlives.
The partial-birth abortion ban is a scary thought for me. Ratherthan putting a stop to the use of abortion as a birth-controlmethod, President Bush and those behind this piece of legislationhave banned a procedure that is often used to save lives.
Yes, the pictures of partial-birth abortions are gruesome, butas a science major I have seen images equally graphic. TheDiscovery Channel is often filled with open-heart surgeries,liposuction (a truly disgusting and dangerous procedure -- butLEGAL), emergency-room trauma and other things in a similarvein.
All these operations, however, are legal and (save forliposuction) life-saving operations. When a mother's life is indanger, does the president really have the right to say that shemust die?
Oftentimes, when a mother's life is in danger, the fetus dieswith her, so what is this ban protecting?
Abortion is a difficult and sometimes-painful subject to thinkabout. Twiford is right; it is difficult for anyone to be 100percent sure of his or her opinion. Does anybody or will anybodyknow what the right choice is?
I certainly do not, but I am at least 99 percent certain that agroup of men in Washington D.C. does not have the right or thepertinent knowledge to tell women what is and is not legal to dowith their bodies, especially when the women's lives might be atstake.
Thank you for your column, Gregory. I wish all men and womentook an equally well-thought-out approach to this issue.
Sara Parks
sophomore