Abortion

Forty years ago this month, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in every state in its historic Roe v. Wade decision. It affirmed that the constitutionally protected right to privacy includes every woman's ability to make her own personal medical decisions without the interference of politicians. Four decades later, a majority of Americans still agree with the high court that personal health care decisions should be left up to a woman. In poll after poll, the majority of Americans support access to safe and legal abortion in some or most cases.

At last week's signing of "executive actions" designed to combat gun violence in America, President Barack Obama, flanked by schoolchildren, said, "when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us, we must act now. " There's no doubt that children, especially schoolchildren, are vulnerable to all kinds of threats, but are they "the most vulnerable," as the president claimed, or is there another category of human life that qualifies for that...

As we get ready to celebrate the swearing in of President Barack Obama for a second term, it is a time to talk about our hopes for the country. I would like to see President Obama submit a budget to Congress that does not include restrictions on coverage of abortion care. Even if we don't personally agree with abortion, we can agree it is unfair to pressure a woman over her decision about whether to end a pregnancy just because she has government-funded health insurance. Decisions about whether to choose adoption, end a pregnancy, or raise a child are better left to a woman and her family in consultation with her health care provider.

Even though I disagree with Susan Reimer on almost every word she writes, I was with her on her "Why there won't be real gun reform" column (Dec. 18) until the paragraph, "There are some differences, of course. My reproductive choices do not affect bodily harm on you or the ones you love, by accident or intent. " How easily she dismisses 3,000 babies destroyed each day by abortion in the United States (over 1 million a year). Compare that to 3,100 deaths due to firearms a year!

Thanks to Susan Reimer ("Women voters fend off the Neanderthals," Nov. 8) for reminding me that I am in the Neanderthal-Barbarian Party. Her recent rant shows how it is more important for her to feel safe in the doctor's exam room than to "kick start this economy. " All the other issues, in her mind, pale in comparison to making sure any woman can get an abortion. I agree with abortion rights, but not at the expense of our economy, our military strength, our standing in the world and ensuring the U.S. will be here for another 236 years.

Congratulations, ladies. You kept the barbarians from the gate. On Tuesday, Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri, who famously said that a woman's reproductive system shuts down during "legitimate rape" and prevents conception, lost by 15 points to incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat who was considered an easy target by the tea party. She won women voters ages 18 to 44 overwhelmingly. And Richard Mourdock, who said that if a woman does become pregnant during rape, it is something that God intended, lost the Indiana Senate race to Joe Donnelly.

After some trouble on the first attempt, the State Highway Administration removed the 300-ton West Nursery Road bridge over the northbound lanes of Baltimore-Washington Parkway overnight and reopened the road early Saturday. Crews used hydraulic equipment to lift the bridge deck out of place, after an attempt two weeks ago that failed when the load shifted and the Highway Administration had to assemble a massive crane on the parkway to lift the deck back into place. The parkway reopened at 7:30 a.m. after the bridge was carried several hundred feet north on the parkway, also called Route 295, and dropped off in the median.

Indiana's Richard Mourdock, Illinois' Joe Walsh and Missouri's Todd Akin aren't doctors. They are Republicans running for the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. But they appear to have special knowledge of how a woman's body works, not to mention the mind of God. Mr. Mourdock is the latest, saying last week that if a woman became pregnant as a result of rape, "that is something God intended to happen. " Mr. Akin, like Mr. Mourdock a candidate for the Senate, famously said in August that a woman's reproductive processes would shut down during "legitimate rape," and she wouldn't conceive.

So, if I understood her correctly, St. Mary's College History Professor Christine Adams is saying that if the truth be known women value "jobs" over parenting, and the fulfillment of such values is just not possible if women are not in control of their bodies ("For women, reproductive rights are economic issues," Sept. 18). Control, in her opinion, is that women must have the sole elective right to terminate their pregnancies to avoid being discriminated against and bullied by societal laws and mores.

To reach the Convention Center, you must first walk the gauntlet of dead baby parts. It's one of the newer and more gruesome tactics in the fight over reproductive choice, protesters hoisting large color placards depicting aborted fetuses torn in chunks as a group of men preaches an unending sermon on the evils of abortion. As rhetorical tactics go, it is a bludgeon. The street preachers have other things on their minds, too: Muslims are bad, homosexuals are worse, and if you vote Democrat, you're going to hell in the fast lane.