Sooo … all laws then?

Perhaps unwittingly, it seems writer Rhonda Patton recently voiced her opposition to all state laws binding upon Arkansans.

In her letter she expresses support for Planned Parenthood, presumably in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s fresh refusal to hear the abortion giant’s appeal of Arkansas Act 577, which restricts medication-induced abortions in our state.

After acknowledging that God has endowed humans with free will, Ms. Patton then questions why “our legislators continue to make moral decisions for us.” Selectively applying the biblical admonition against “passing judgment,” she assigns shame to the “self-righteously judgmental” individuals who oppose abortion.

Ms. Patton correctly links human free will with morality. But she would be well-served to grasp that all man-made laws regulate and direct human free will to some degree, and therefore legislate morality. So her opposition to a certain law enacted by state legislators, upon the principle that it imposes morality upon citizens, is tantamount to opposing the creation and existence of all such laws.

Presumably, Ms. Patton does not object to the “moral decisions” made by state legislators in years past to enact laws against murder, domestic violence, sexual assault, etc. Yet from her relativistic viewpoint, a state law restricting abortion on demand is unacceptable moral interference. That’s the rub.

To help temper her enthusiasm for abortion, Ms. Patton might ponder an alternate biblical principle, one commonly known as the Golden Rule. JIM BARRE JR. Fayetteville