Legislation has no place in human reproduction

Those debating when, how or if it is acceptable to intervene in a pregnancy will never agree. All sides will lose because we are asking the wrong question. The right question is: “Who has the right to make the decision to produce a child?”

Conservatives claim government does, and they attempt to impose theology by way of legislation, which restricts access to intervention. I maintain only the pregnant woman has the right to make that decision, based on real-life aspects such as her age and health, family situation, employment, genetic risks, the prospects for a child's healthy, productive life, and her moral and religious beliefs.

To those who insist every fertilized egg should be brought to term, consider this scenario. If, for some strange reason, birthrates plummet, the country will lack an adequate work force. The government could then require every woman of childbearing age to have four children in the next 10 years, no matter the situation. How would you feel? I can hear cries of “Keep government out of my life.”

Today, those who want to carry every pregnancy to term have the freedom to do so without outside interference. It is only right and just for any woman to freely decide to intervene in a pregnancy if her situation does not support producing a child. Legislation has no place in reproduction.

Elizabeth A. Belden

Alburnett