Re: Melinda Nordeng's March 13 commentary, “California must lead in women’s rights�:
Ms. Nordeng’s commentary was a rant filled with personal opinions and few facts. She thinks California should be a leader in civil rights, women’s rights, and the rights of all people. She forgot to mention that in California, babies have no rights.
She compares incest and rape survivors with soldiers who experienced war atrocities. What does this have to do with abortion? Soldiers are not coming back demanding the right to take another life because they experienced horror.
She argues that the loudest voices against abortion are men. Obviously she is not involved with the pro-life movement, or she would have met many wonderful women who do not support a woman’s right to kill her baby.
She argues it is morally and ethically wrong to conceive a child in violence and hatred. She doesn’t mention the ethical and moral dilemma with late-term abortion. Only the most violent physician could pull a baby halfway out of the birth canal, stick an instrument in the skull to suck out the brains and then deliver a dead baby that was viable.
Finally, she brings her personal life into the argument, telling us she was kidnapped and raped but did not become pregnant. She doesn’t think that women who were impregnated by rape or incest should be obliged to raise that child. She never mentions adoption.
As a neonatal clinical nurse specialist, I have cared for dozens of infants who are viable at 23 and 24 weeks gestation. The healthcare team treats these babies with utmost respect. Their fight for life is heroic.
I am sorry the abortion debate is always framed as women’s rights. Do Americans have the right to kill each other? A true debate would consider an infant’s rights.
— Jil Lima-Lehr, Oxnard
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