Kathy Smith – 2/4/05

This page was last updated on February 6, 2005.

A right and a choice; Kathy Smith; Beaver County Times; February 4, 2005.

It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is for some people to come up with “humane” reasons to kill a pre-birth child.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Roe v. Wade is the most controversial law to date when it comes to women’s rights.”

[RWC] “Roe v. Wade” is not a law; it is an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

“For those women who have nothing or those girls who were ignorant enough to get pregnant at 15, is it fair for their child to be born and unwanted?”

[RWC] Is it fair for the child to be killed?

“There are already enough children born in this world who are unwanted. Why would anyone want another child to suffer?”

[RWC] What if a child is wanted when born but becomes “unwanted” later? Is it OK to kill the child then so it won’t have to suffer?

“Aren’t the stories we read about babies that are found in the garbage a just cause for abortion? No one leaves babies on door steps anymore.

“Yes, there are couples out there who desperately want a child. Sometimes they wait a long time or go overseas to adopt.”

[RWC] I’m not an expert on the subject, but everything I’ve read indicates there’s an oversupply of adoptive parents. That why “sometimes they wait a long time or go overseas to adopt.” If there’s an oversupply of adoptive parents, can a baby truly be unwanted?

“Then there are the stories of women who choose to have an adoptive couple and three years later want their child back, saying that they can give a better home now. That child now suffers because of that choice and because the courts allow the child to be removed from the only parents who really cared and wanted it.”

[RWC] I’m sorry, but this has to be just about the most idiotic reason I’ve heard to justify killing a child. Two families fighting over a child is not a great situation, but a reason to kill a child?

“So, unless you are the one to care for the unwanted children of the world, don’t criticize those women who choose to abort. They are the ones who must live with what they have done and will face their creator when it’s their time.”

[RWC] They “must live with what they have done,” but that’s a luxury they deny their child.

“I can’t speak for the women who have aborted and what their reasons were or what their circumstances are, but we also do not have the right to decide their fates or their choice.”

[RWC] They chose their fate and had their “choice” before they got pregnant.

If sole responsibility regarding a child’s birth rests with the woman, as Ms. Smith claims, we need to look at laws requiring fathers to pay child support. That is, if fathers have no say in the matter it’s wrong to require them to pay child support, right? I assume Ms. Smith would agree, otherwise her position would be hypocritical.