Letter to the editor
To protect the rights of the unborn, vote pro-life.
I am writing this letter in response to Thursday’s letter to the editor praising the Roe v. Wade decision and encouraging USC students to “talk sex.” I know my views are not going to be received well, but someone needs to speak out in defense of the other side of the issue.
The baby’s heart can begin to beat as early as eighteen days after conception. The unborn are not clumps of cells; they are humans. (I am not anti-science, as the author seems to assume of anyone who is opposed to abortion and birth control. I believe in evolution and global warming, and I support adult stem-cell research.) Some people seem to think that the unborn are human, but not persons deserving of rights. Who are we, though, to draw the line arbitrarily somewhere along the continuum of human life?
The idea that individuals or governments can decide which humans are persons and which are not is chilling. Historically, this idea has resulted in slavery and the Holocaust. I will be voting only for pro-life politicians this election season; advocating the right to life is not an extreme position to take. Likewise, supporting laws that protect unborn children is not about big government. It is simply about giving all humans the first and most basic of our unalienable rights: life.
Never having been in the situation of a crisis pregnancy, I can only imagine how difficult it must be.
Is it hard to carry a baby to term while being a student at USC? I am sure it is. But doing the right thing has never been easy. There are pregnancy help centers in Los Angeles that are ready and waiting to help women in need. Adoption is always an option; there are thousands of couples and families on waiting lists who would love to adopt a child. And yes, there are even couples wishing to adopt special needs children.
I believe in a woman’s right to choose a lot of things. But choosing to kill a baby goes too far. I do not support anyone’s right to kill another human being, no matter how little that human may be.
Vote pro-life in 2012.
Lisa Ebiner Gavit
Los Angeles County Coordinator, Rick Santorum for President
Wow! It’s great that people are recognizing the truth that the unborn babies are human persons! I am pro-life and I am going to vote for Rick Santorum!!!!!
Vote for Life, Vote Rick Santorum for POTUS 2012!!
Life begins at conception! Government is supposed to protect the right to life for every innocent American, including those still in the womb. Men who are convicted of rape cannot be put to death because the Supreme Court says that would be “cruel and unusual” punishment. Why then is it okay to kill the baby who did nothing wrong? It’s a baby, not a choice.
I’m voting Pro-life: Rick Santorum 2012! He’s the only candidate that is 100% Pro-life!
Very good Lisa! Someone has to protect the rights of the defenseless minority from the tyranny of the majority.
So why is the government allowed to decided what lives are important through war?
I don’t understand your response Matt. Lisa’s well-written opinion obviously reveals her exact reasons for disagreeing with abortion. She believes that a fetus is a person, and that it shouldn’t be legal to kill a person. As Rachel acknowledges below, if someone believes that a fetus is human, it is completely understandable and rational to be staunchly pro-life.
You might have a valid point, but your vague question seems instead to be an attempt to arbitrarily discredit Lisa’s opinion by bringing up something completely irrelevant to the pro-life/pro-choice debate.
I’m pro-choice and definitely not going to vote for any pro-life candidates this election season, but I wanted to say that I can see where you’re coming from, and if I honestly believed that fetuses were human as you genuinely do, then I would be pro-life and horrified at all this legalized murder too. So — good editorial, I guess. You didn’t change my mind, but I do respect your opinion.
Rachel, in your mind, when does a fetus become a human?
Upon birth, although I do think it is a bit of a continuum and I would probably question a later-term abortion.
“I believe in evolution and global warming, and I support adult stem-cell research.”
You obviously don’t care about those issues that much if you support Santorum. Why would you base your entire political life off of one wedge issue? Extremism isolates us from each other and silences dialogue. If you only vote based on one issue, you are misusing your civic duty and it is no surprise that Santorum’s campaign is foundering.
Dan, of course there are other issues to look at, but there is one dominant issue at hand, when 3,500 human lives are being killed and sancted by law. This is like saying in the 1800’s people were too focused on slavery, even though there were other issues, and in the 1940’s people were too focused on the nazis even though there were other issues at hand.