LETTER: Questions for those who want to outlaw abortion
In his Sept. 22 letter, Miguel Reyes-Cuerva claims Democrats have an “obsession” and “want to continue killing U.S. babies” via abortion.
First, a fetus is not a baby. It may be convenient to Mr. Reyes-Cuerva’s argument to say so, but saying a fetus is a baby does not make it so. Babies breathe on their own. Fetuses do not. A fetus requires an umbilical cord. A baby does not. A “baby’” by definition, is a newborn.
Second, the letter urges that, in lieu of allowing a woman the right obtain an abortion, the prospective mother of the unwanted child should carry the fetus to term and place the newborn up for adoption. Given that position, a few questions:
Who should be required to pay financial costs (i.e., lost wages) associated with the woman’s unwanted pregnancy? If a woman is forced to incubate a fetus/child she neither planned for or wants, who should pay for health care? Who is going to pay the estate of a deceased woman who dies from complications related to the course of her forced pregnancy? I wonder if those “millions of parents and individuals who want to adopt kids” want to adopt a disabled child. Who pays for the ongoing medical costs of that disabled child?
It seems these issues should be resolved before anyone advises a woman what she should or should not do in regard to her unwanted pregnancy.
One last question: Why are Republicans obsessed with wanting to control a woman’s body?
