Dr. Hern is a gift to our community to be treasured

Everyone can agree with a letter to the editor from Feb. 2 about having different views. But we should all disagree with her statement that Dr. Warren Hern “does not see life as a gift to be treasured and protected.”

I’ve known Warren Hern for over half of my 80 years, and I know him to be a very companionate and sensitive person. In every way, he is a person who sees all life as a gift to be treasured and protected. You would know this if you knew him through his loving family, or read his perceptive book, or seen his wonderful photography. His compassion also shines through his work as a doctor who provides women with needed abortions. Warren conducts his practice with more bravery than any other public servant I know. He has received too many death threats to count, his family has also been threatened, his patients and his clinic have been mobbed, and his critics have even shot at him.

Women need abortions for many reasons. Nationally recognized research shows over half of abortions are after failed contraception. Most do not understand that the majority of abortions are induced with prescription medications. These choices are often difficult. In my opinion and a majority of the public’s opinion, women need, and have the right, to be able to make these choices about their bodies and their health without the intervention of either government or religion.

And women need to be able to seek compassionate help in our community from a professional like Dr. Warren Hern, who absolutely does see life as a gift to be treasured and protected.

— Robert S. Hullinghorst,

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