Letter to the editor: Don’t punish pre-born for parents’ actions

OPINION:

In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court usurped authority it did not legally have, and snatched the issue of abortion from the state legislatures.

While former President Donald Trump was correct to commend the Supreme Court for returning the issue to the state legislatures in the Dobbs decision, I must respectfully disagree with his contention that the decision by the Arizona Supreme Court was “too tough” (“Trump says Arizona abortion ruling too tough,” web, April 10).

Probably every pro-lifer agrees that if carrying a baby to term would endanger the mother’s life, the mother has the right to choose whether to save herself or her baby. Abortions for ectopic pregnancies, for example, were legal in every state in the union before Roe v. Wade. Pro-lifers also contend that killing a preborn baby simply because it is an inconvenience to one or both parents is wrong. Inconvenience accounts for 95% to 98% of all abortions. As for rape and incest, consider the following scenario:

Suppose that a driver hits and injures a pedestrian. He quickly drives off, but not before others recognize him. Next, imagine that several hours later a bus stops in this county. One of the passengers is the motorist’s daughter, who is aboard due to circumstances beyond her control (a school field trip, for example). Suppose county residents claim that hidden somewhere in their county charter — where only they can find it — is a “right to retribution.” Invoking this “right,” they drag the girl off the bus and lynch her.

Now imagine that a few decent county residents object to what was done. After all, they say, it wasn’t the girl who hit the pedestrian. Why was she punished for a crime her father committed?

Now imagine that the local weekly newspaper runs a blistering editorial, denouncing the objectors as “extremists who want to deny people their right to retribution.”

By the same token, why should a preborn baby be put to death for a crime his or her father committed, but in which the baby played no part?

THOMAS M. CRAWFORD

Laurel, Maryland