Jon and Marie Waldschmidt, what gives you the right to speak for all the musicians, doctors, teachers, poets, writers, scientists, world leaders, mothers and housewives of the world? The decision for a woman to have an abortion is a personal one, and not a decision to be judged by you or any government.

It is so easy for you to make judgments against other people as you sit in your DeKalb home writing to the school paper. You are not a seventeen-year-old girl who has mistaken passion for love and is faced with an unwanted pregnancy. Having a baby at this age will put a major emotional stress on these girls that will last their lifetime. If they keep the child they will have to change their lives. They must choose between leaving school and their friends for a job to support their baby or depending on their parents for financial help—help that may not be available. If they give the child up for adoption they will forever wonder where their child is and how he is doing, not to mention the stress of going through pregnancy. For older women, pregnancy may mean giving up a college education or career to raise a child, a child they never wanted and aren’t ready to care for.

ow dare you speak of “22 million innocents being sentenced to death for the sins of their parents.” Who are you to decide what is sin? What gives you the right to speak for God? If these parents have committed a sin it is between them and God alone. You have no right to pass judgment on people you don’t know. None of these women wants to have an abortion. They have thought long and hard about it and have made their decision. Let these women have their freedom of choice—their choice, not yours.

Brian Ladin

Junior

Accounting