Dear Editor:
I am glad that our local senators and representatives understand and defend the principle of the separation of church and state in governing America. Nevertheless, the extent to which a fundamentalist right-to-life conviction has been allowed to encroach on this principle – and to sway many humane minds into unconscionable concessions – is appalling.
The law of the land guarantees a female citizen the right to a safe and legal abortion, and the medical treatment for the condition of pregnancy becomes the sole concern of the medical/personal team involved – whether it be prenatal care or termination. Any amendments to the proposed health care legislation which interfere with this freedom should be eliminated.
For a progressive Democratic president and the American populace to feel compelled to placate such a narrow interest group with the promise of no federal funding for abortion is chilling. Since when did the Hyde amendment become “neutral ground?”
Women of all ages continue to find themselves pregnant in unacceptable emotional/economic circumstances. Their most profound maternal instincts may reject bringing a child into the world in which they find themselves. But if they don’t fit into Hyde’s pigeonholes – of rape, incest, or danger to the mother’s life – the medical procedure of abortion subsidized by health insurance is ruled out. And we know all too well how likely it is that inadequate and abusive parenting will follow down through the generations, as a result.
The humanist creed – every child wanted, cherished, done right by – is as sacred as any other creed in our nation. I completely respect those with strong convictions about the sanctity of life within the womb, and I would never try to force an individual to go against her principles in making decisions about her body and her future. What I argue against is the stubborn lack of reciprocity, the arrogance with which anti-choice people try to impose their vision on me. And I resent mightily that my government would betray me by acquiescing to their demands. This falsely relegates my belief to a lesser rung in the hierarchy of faith, when actually both beliefs have equal validity, strength and significance. One belief system must never be seen ascendant over another.
It’s time American citizens stood up and defended the need for principled, secular governance. No Conference of Catholic Bishops has any right or business attempting to dictate to a non-Catholic America citizen – a yogi, pantheist, atheist, Muslim, Jew, or Jain – what she may or may not choose with regard to her person, her home, or her family.
We are put on this earth to know ourselves, and the need to explore our sexuality usually comes before the need to explore our procreative and parenting abilities. We need to stop punishing female citizens, especially the young, the poor, the under-educated. We need true neutral ground restored to our society, and we need to be firm in the face of the pain it will cause many who would fuse religion with government.
Diane Oltarzewski