Abortion bill out of touch

Idaho state Sen. Dan Foreman’s extreme views on abortion do not represent a majority of his District 5 constituents, despite his wish that this were so. Within a week as senator, he is already an embarrassment to most of his constituents. Instead of learning the ropes, he chose to step forward with a ludicrous bill seeking to prosecute women, whose lives he clearly doesn’t value, for making the difficult choice of abortion.

Rather than learn what leads to these difficult and very personal decisions, he decided to simply criminalize women. Interesting that a man would never have to be implicated in such a supposed “crime,” though husbands often participate in these difficult family decisions.

The number of people sharing his views is shrinking. Gallup polls find only 19 percent of Americans think abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. A Pew survey from December 2016 found only 28 percent of Americans want Roe v. Wade overturned. If he is truly concerned about abortions, and not controlling women, I urge him to pursue preventative measures, like expanding health care and affordable, or even free, birth control access to low-income women and families.

Leontina Hormel

Moscow