Name: Ali GrossArticle: "Speakers discuss effects of NCLB" (Dec. 4)
Post: I need to thank Shiri Raphaely, Debbie Neigher, Lolly Berger and Lizzie DeWan, whose names were unfortunately not mentioned in this article. Together, we make up the leadership team of Education Action!, the sponsoring organization for this event. These are some of the most passionate and amazing women I have ever met and they deserve a huge amount of recognition and thanks.
Name: Nina LeeArticle: "A 'pro-life' position is logical and rational" (Nov. 20)
Post: Most pro-choicers and pro-lifers agree that the development of a homo sapien begins at conception.
Pro-choicers and pro-lifers disagree over whether or when the government should ban elective abortions. More generally, people disagree over how much power other people should have on a person's reproduction. Pro-choicers and some pro-lifers also disagree with those pro-lifers who oppose comprehensive sex education and contraceptive products, which help decrease abortion rates. To say that the abortion debate stems from disagreement over whether a fetus is a homo sapien is to do a "disservice to those on [all sides] who recognize that the debate is far more important and complicated than that."
I don't like it when people abuse substances, especially when they're pregnant. But I cannot assume that the best government policy would be to prohibit whatever I don't like. We must weigh the consequences of public policy options.
A ban on abortion would, in effect, force pregnant persons to stay pregnant and then have spontaneous abortions, illegal elective abortions, labor pains or caesarean sections. Threatening people with imprisonment might prevent some people from getting abortions, especially people who wouldn't be able to afford an illegal abortion or an abortion outside of the US. However, there are ways to decrease the abortion rate without increasing gender and socioeconomic inequality and causing more suffering. We should direct resources towards prevention of abortion instead of punishment for abortion.
The fewer unintended pregnancies, the fewer abortions. So, government policy on abortion should focus on preventing unintended pregnancy by promoting contraception, including use of abstinence. To decrease rape and pressures to have sex that could lead to unintended pregnancy, society could socialize people, especially males, to be less sexually aggressive. As for decreasing the proportion of unintended pregnancies that end in abortion, people could reduce the many costs of pregnancy, adoption and child-rearing.
