ON ROE V. WADE

FROM MY FRIEND BARBARA

"Roe v Wade says the proper way to balance the fundamental right to make decisions affecting our own bodies and the rights of the unborn is to allow abortions with only minimal restrictions in the first trimester, restrict or ban in the second, and ban outright in the third. States can be less restrictive than that but they are not supposed to be more restrictive. So some very liberal states dont restrict second trimester and allow even "partial birth" abortion which is horrible. Now I will tell you, if a pregnant woman actually needs a horrible pregnancy- terminating procedure late in her pregnancy, for medical reasons, a doctor will perform it regardless of the law. And yes it's horrible but if you're pro-life you cant object to saving a mother's life. Anyone who decides after the first trimester to end a pregnancy without a medical reason is beyond my comprehension. I wholeheartedly agree that the baby's rights have to be protected and Roe v Wade recognizes this too. You don't fix that by criminalizing abortion. You fix that by enacting state laws that are as restrictive as Roe allows them to be. All a person has to do is fly from Alabama to California to change from a criminal to a law-abiding, 6 weeks pregnant young woman who survived a sexual assault. That's ridiculous! The Roe case is sound and DOES stick up for the baby's right to be born. Anyone who takes the time to read it will see that."