Letters

From the December 2007 issue

(Page 2 of 2)

In Roe, Justice Harry Blackmun showed sympathy for the plight of women but also a profound paternalistic disrespect for the very people he was trying to help. To make the right of women to control their own bodies hinge on privacy instead of every individual’s right not to be treated as a public resource indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of what is at stake.

For those, like myself, who believe abortion is fraught with moral difficulties, the correct course of action is to teach, communicate, and discuss the importance of valuing human life with our daughters, our female neighbors, and our friends. We must help them come to the correct conclusion based on good, clear reasoning and the strength of our convictions.

Pregnancy and birth are the most dangerous work most women will ever do. To deprive them of medically feasible means for escaping those dangers, let alone planning their lives, is to treat women with the greatest disrespect.
Sigrid Fry-Revere
Director of Bioethics Studies
Cato Institute
Washington, DC