Fetal heartbeat law was an offense

I am a 68-year-old woman who was blessed to have had three children. I am against abortion yet I take offense at legislators - state and federal - who are taking away the reproductive rights and safeguards of women in this country. It is funny how most legislators are men who cannot get pregnant nor birth a child nor suffer an abortion, yet they can make laws that force women into the legislators' hypocritical notions of pregnancy.

They state the sanctity of the unborn - yet they still OK abortions for cases of rape or incest. Either fetal life is sacred or it is not. You can't pick and choose when it is OK to end fetal life. Either all babies are sacred at the sound of a heartbeat or none are.

Also, as they try to stop or limit abortions, they are trying to shut down Planned Parenthood and other agencies which supply women with birth control. Many religions, especially the Catholic church, support and aid the government in ending abortions. Yet they also are against birth control stating it is a sin. But without access to and use of birth control, abortions will be an option. You cannot outlaw abortions while also outlawing the means to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Life is sacred. Legislators cannot pick and choose which unwanted pregnancies are not as sacred as others and they cannot mandate laws which prevent women from accessing birth control and gynecological services to prevent those pregnancies and thus abortions.

Judy Gustafson

Cedar Rapids