This is in response to Lisa Dooley’s letter in Tuesday’s Star. I would like to present the opposing side of this issue. Miss Dooley, I do not condemn your beliefs, nor do I condone them. I believe in the right for each person to have a choice. Our country was based on the idea of freedom. We base our society on respecting the beliefs of others. Why is it that individuals with the belief that life starts at conception condemn those who oppose their views as murderers? Who gives them the right to decide that every fetus, wanted or unwanted, must live?

In your letter, Miss Dooley, you ask, “Who gives anyone the right to decide on another human’s life?” You yourself are violating that right if you oppose abortion. You are deciding on another woman’s life and, I believe, insulting her intelligence by not allowing her to make her own decision. I feel a law should be passed to make abortion legal only during the first trimester of pregnancy, unless the mother’s life was endangered. During those first three months, the “fetus” is nothing more than a cluster of cells. It is not self-aware, it cannot learn and if removed from its protective environment, it cannot survive. That, to me, is not human life.

Adoption, while it is an alternative, is not completely feasible. A large percentage of women who choose adoption as an alternative to abortion keep the baby, whether or not it is practical for them to do so.

You also state in your letter that “people only think of themselves and don’t stop to think about … the unborn child.” I think that many women who have abortions are thinking of the child first and about what kind of life they will be able to provide for him/her. Why should a child be doomed to a life of poverty or unhappiness just because his/her mother made a mistake? Accidents do happen: condoms break, pills are not completely foolproof. And why sentence a woman to unwanted motherhood just for “carelessness”?

Finally, I would like to mention that there are 5.3 billion people on Earth. Judging by our numerous environmental problems and our overwhelming homeless population, our planet cannot sustain that number. Within the next century, that number will double. If abortion is outlawed, an extra million people will be added to the Earth’s population each year. Where will we be then?

Once again, I do not condemn your beliefs, Miss Dooley. I do oppose your fight against freedom. Every individual is entitled to a choice. If you are against abortion, then don’t have one. Do not deny me or any other woman the freedom of making a choice.

Elizabeth Ayer

Junior

French