THE PUBLIC MIND: WOMAN TAKES ISSUE WITH PRO-LIFE SUPPORTER STATEMENTS

Dear Editor:

The article "More Than 200 Pro-life Supporters Demonstrate" scared me. It made me scared for people's lives and personal rights. Our country is currently systematically taking away people's rights of free speech, freedom of expression, and du~e process. In this country where people arrested for alleged drug related reasons are subject to seizure of all their property before being convicted, and where a person's body and urine is subject to arbitrary search and seizure without reasonable suspicion, (these are violations of the fourth and fifth amendment) I am afraid for the future of a country that is quickly becoming a police state.

The anti-abortion movement does not support life. It disregards and ignores the lives of women and views them as public chattel whose usefulness as baby-makers precedes their freedom of choice. It is also odd that many (admittedly not all) "pro-lifers" support the death penalty and the Gulf War. Have they just temporarily thrown the "sanctity of life" out the window?

It is ironic that Nall compared abortion to slavery. It is much easier to parallel the anti-abortion movement to slavery. Women's bodies are treated as property governable by the Supreme Court. How long will it be until pregnant women are arrested or monitored for consuming alcohol or cigarettes, eating improperly, or being overly stressed? All of these things could hurt the fetus. Where do you draw the line? When does a woman's body no longer belong to her?

Nall also said "No person who says they are pro-choice would want to trade places with the unborn child." First of all, this is a meaningless statement as it is impossible. But hypothetically I can honestly say that I, as the person that I am now, would leave the decision to abort the fetus up to my prospective mother. Unfortunately, my mother was not given that choice.

Bernice Buehrle said "We know we are going to win because God is on our side." This typifies a major flaw in much of the anti-abortion argument. The constitution states in the first amendment "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." Even if you believe abortion is wrong, it is also wrong to make a law based on this belief. It is possible to be against abortion and still be pro-choice.

The last statement of the article, "If people want a choice, they can avoid getting pregnant in the first place," is absurd, as no birth control is 100% effective. I am a result of failed birth control and I have gotten pregnant as a result of failed birth control. I chose to get an abortion and I am not ashamed or regretful. When I went to the clinic, a protester told me that I would burn in hell. (I suppose the protester in question had a note from God giving her the right to judge and condemn.) The leaflets I was given were filled with pictures that were not of actual aborted fetuses, but were pictures set up with latex models. The anti-abortion movement has consistently relied on misleading information and outright lies. An example of this is when they advertise under the guise of abortion services and try to scare young pregnant women with outrageously inflated statistics of infertility and the previously mention pictures of latex models.

I will not let the government or the church tell me what to do with my body and my private life. It is degrading to hear people argue that I and every other woman am incapable of rational thoughts in deciding what is best for myself.

Sincerely,

Davida H. M. Douglas

Carbondale, Ill.