Flowers column on abortion

In her December 16 column, Christine Flowers asserts the pro-life movement has been energized by the recent election of liberals. “The resistance is woke,” she declares.

Hundreds of state-level legislative attempts to limit abortion make it hard to share Flowers’ view. Even harder is to appreciate her column’s tone.

First she says that 90% of Down pregnancies in America are aborted. Then she bizarrely claims, “That is a chilling statistic that is very close to the sex selection statistics in countries where female babies are far less desirable than males.”

Flowers apparently knows nothing of the anguish of parents awaiting results of an amniocentesis. No one should presume to understand their struggle or to judge them. They are not picking a gender from a limited menu. They are in fact struggling with a monumental moral decision.

Ohio, Indiana and North Dakota (and perhaps now Pennsylvania) have passed laws to prohibit the termination of a pregnancy because of a Down diagnosis. The Indiana provision was struck down by a U.S. District judge.

As the debate continues and both sides seek to outmaneuver the other, Flowers would do well to keep her flippant remarks to herself.

John Mason

Spokane Valley