Re Sheila McGuire’s article dated July 23, it covers such a vast array of topics, it is difficult to know where to begin. It is peculiar at least that a newspaper reporter would be spouting so many opinions without a shred of supporting evidence. Let me confine my comments to just a few of Ms. McGuire’s paragraphs. First, she asserts that “the Constitution explicitly forbids the establishment of a religion that dictates the public sphere”. Really? What the U.S. Constitution actually says is that “Congress shall establish no religion”. In other words, religion not a federal issue. It is a moral issue that is currently enshrined in the platforms of both major political parties.

Democrats officially favor a woman’s right to abort her unborn child. Republicans, by contrast, believe that every child has a right to life from conception that is inalienable. Party platforms constitute what each party considers timeless truths. Moving to the first of two paragraphs on legislation, Ms. McGuire first asserts that some states’ draconian laws require rape victims to give birth but also require them to co-parent with their rapist. State law in every state sends rapists to prison, surely. No documentation is provided for this extravagant claim. If this dubious situation is true in some states, it is definitely not the case in Wyoming, which passed a statute earlier this year to prevent rapists from having any parental rights (https://www.wyoleg.gov/Legislation/2019/HB0107). Both rape victims and babies that are conceived in rape need to be supported under the law and by the community. Next, “Other legislation claims terminating a pregnancy is never a medical necessity and makes no exceptions.” This might very well be the case. However, Ms. McGuire chooses as her example an ectopic pregnancy. Anyone knows that ectopic pregnancies are tragic situations that cannot result in a healthy live birth and are also extremely dangerous to the mother. The standard treatment for ectopic pregnancy is not abortion but rather a procedure called salpingectomy. Currently there is no way to save the life of the embryo, so this is an unfortunate outcome of saving the life of the mother. So the chosen example was faulty at best.