Point is women’s choice

In his (July 10, 2018) column to the Washington Post and featured in the Spokesman-Review, Gary Abernathy, a pro-lifer, infers that even if Roe v. Wade were overturned there would still be a demand for abortion. He also further states that we should focus on convincing more people to believe “that every unborn child is a gift from God and deserves to be cherished.” He then infers that while abortion is a religious precept it is also a common-sense one and basically he goes on to say that we have scientific advancements to save lives in the womb, etc., etc., which is inconsistent with abortion. While these arguments have some merit, to me the most obvious and justifiable one belongs to women: The right to control her own body.

The abortion issue is in part a religious issue in that the religious right is trying to impose their beliefs on the government. The separation of church and state is well preserved in the Constitution and the government should not be involved in the issue of abortion. If a woman’s religion opposes abortion then that is her business — not anyone else’s. Conversely, it is a woman’s basic right under the Fourth and 14th Amendments of the Constitution to control her reproductive choices and it is her business. When are men and the government going to realize that a woman has certain rights and stop trying to curtail them?

To overturn Roe v. Wade would not only go against common sense because the demand would still be there and we would go back to illegal butchering, but also we would be taking fundamental rights from women — controlling her own body and making her own reproductive decisions without government interference.

Beth F. Allen

Sandpoint