Dear Editor: Don't Care One Way or Another

Dear Editor,

About the recent hub-bub about CI-128, I honestly do not care one whit if it passes or not! I know some readers are up in arms concerning certain parts of the text, particularly parental consent. Having just read the entirety of the text, I can't help but think that this, as well as other objectionable language, seems to have been inferred. However, I do not wish to get into a political discussion or argument here but to explain my stance on abortion. The why and when, in my view, it may be morally employed (if ever.)

Abortion is MURDER! In the past, I have taken a very black-and-white stance on this very touchy subject. However, as often happens with maturity, I have grown out of it, realizing that life is NOT black and white. There are MANY gray areas, and this seems to be just one giant gray blob. I watched a video that showed how, as soon as the sperm enters the egg, there is a corresponding flash of light and electrical charge. Light=Life, right? No real argument there, maybe, but that's not the point, is it?!

Whether it means the fertilized egg/fetus is viable at that point or not, the question of whether abortion may be legally and morally performed in any given situation is not dependent so much on the circumstances (though that is most definitely an important factor), as on the intentions of the pregnant party, both in the pregnancy itself and in the abortion.

First of all, why?! Why are you getting pregnant in the first place? There are so many factors here that I do not wish to endeavor to list even one of them here, but I will simply leave it up to your imagination. I WILL say that if one gets pregnant just because they have careless sexual intercourse, THEN has an abortion, to get rid of the evidence, so to speak, I might have to take up my former stance.

Secondly, when? The language of CI-128, as well as other abortion legislation, seems fairly clear on that account! Section 36.2 clearly states. "The government may regulate the provision of abortion care after fetal viability provided that in no circumstance shall the government deny or burden access to an abortion that, in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional, is medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient." In such a case, the moral dilemma, again, is placed squarely on the pregnant party; "Is MY life more important than this (potential) child's?" Do I have the right to decide that?

Whatever the case may be in either of the above scenarios, the question we need to consider when voting for or against CI-128 is; can morality be legislated? The answer is pretty clear to me! As far as I'm concerned, I will not cast a vote, one way or the other, on any law!

As always, though, I welcome any polite discussion on this subject over a beer or a cup of coffee.

CHARLES HADDON SHANK

Whitehall, Montana