Letter: Only those who support abortions should pay for them

Posted 1/3/22

To the editor:

A modest proposal.

In this most intractable debate, a letter to last week’s Sakonnet Times drew my interest. Jean Ernster of Barrington made a most intriguing proposal to …

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Letter: Only those who support abortions should pay for them

Posted

To the editor:

A modest proposal.

In this most intractable debate, a letter to last week’s Sakonnet Times drew my interest. Jean Ernster of Barrington made a most intriguing proposal to the proponents and sponsors of R.I. House Bill 5787, the so-called “Equity in Abortion Coverage” Act. She suggested that instead of conscripting taxpayers, those who want to provide abortions for those who say they cannot afford them should pay for them. At first this seemed unreasonable, even outrageous, but upon reflection, there is more here than I first thought.

In 2019 most of the same group of legislators with the support of then-Gov. Raimondo pushed through the thoroughly misnamed “Health Care Privacy Act,“ the provisions of which removed for all practical purposes any “due process” rights of protection or survival for the unborn child at any stage of fetal development for any reason. Since 74 percent of Rhode Islanders oppose third-trimester abortions, enacting a bill that joined Rhode Island to New York and California as now among the most radical pro abortion states in the country disregarded the concerns of that 74 percent of her citizens.

Now the same group wants us to pay for them.

Let’s be clear, the same folks who often urge us to “follow the science” ignore the science regarding this topic. Every embryology textbook in the land clearly defines when life begins; at conception there is the instantaneous creation of a new unique human set of chromosomes and an individual human being that sets out upon the continuum that ends in death, if uninterrupted in three quarters of a century or so. Only time, nurture, food, and oxygen separate the unborn human being from the elderly. Thus, the abortion dispute is a philosophical debate, a moral debate, a metaphysical one even, but it is not a scientific controversy. That is settled and has been since the reality of genetics, human development, and ultrasound technology has been understood.

The opposition to unrestricted enabling of the abortion business to take the lives of our offspring is entirely self-funded by the donations, mostly small, of thousands of people. No government support is given to them; in fact, state agencies routinely refer mothers with financial woes to these groups for help. One example is Rhode Island Right to Life, which served on average 2,000 client visits a month last year and provided over $100,000 worth of donated children’s clothes, diapers, wipes, lotions, baby strollers, baby furniture, counsel, referrals, and love to those clients. All of which was donated by generous, willing supporters, and almost all those contributions were small and sacrificial. 

So why shouldn’t those who support abortions step up with their treasure and pay for them? And not ask those whose hearts are broken by the nearly 5,000 abortions in Rhode Island each year to endure the additional moral crisis and insult of paying for some of them? Those good hearts are already voting with their wallets to support the mothers who need help to keep their babies. Let abortion supporters form their own 501c3 and raise their own funds, put their money where their rhetoric is.

If you agree with this modest proposal that those who desire these procedures to be easily available should pay for them, call her, or write to our own Portsmouth rep, Terri Cortvriend (401/472-4789, rep-cortvriend@rilegislature.gov), who is a co-sponsor for this bill as she was for the bill that wiped out all protections for the unborn in 2019. Perhaps understandable as her political aspirations have long been supported by Planned Parenthood with their donations (Followthemoney.org), but still disappointing to the 74 percent of us who disagree with her radical positions. While you’re at it, reach out to her colleague, our Sen. James Seveney (401/276-5581, sen-Seveney@rilegislature.gov), also a long-term supporter of abortion on demand for any reason. 

So, speak out against this woe begotten zealotry, or don’t complain when you must write the check for it.

Jack and Rita Parquette

15 Birch St.

Portsmouth

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.