Vote, so women can make their own choices

How soon we forget. An all-male commission in Hobbs voted unanimously to ban abortion clinics from its city in the later part of 2022 (“Hobbs passes law blocking abortion clinics within city,” Nov. 9, 2022). More than a year has passed, and no one still mentions this “Hobbesian” vote by a bunch of selfish, unrestrained and uncivilized commissioners.

The year 2023 was not a great one for abortion rights across America. Next door in the state of Texas, the Republican governor, known for his dislike of immigrants as well, tried to force a woman to maintain a likely unviable and dangerous pregnancy. Some folks would like to create sanctuaries for the unborn. How about creating respect and support for the living?

A state-of-the-art women’s hospital opened during my medical training at Northwestern in Chicago. One floor of a major hospital was designed pre-Roe for the care of sepsis (blood poisoning) in women. There were that many illegal, botched abortions taking place. No one likes abortion. Not the doctors performing the procedure, not the nurses assisting, nor the women asking to undergo the abortion. But women will get abortions, even if it’s illegal.

I support Planned Parenthood. I’m for safe, legal access to women’s health care. I support sex education, effective birth control, family planning, sterilization that includes vasectomies and therapeutic abortion. I hear it said, “We’ll take care of the child.” No, you won’t, nor will I.

The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson will result in many poor women suffering unnecessarily. It happened because of elections. Don’t forget to vote in 2024. I’m in solidarity with all who express the Libertarian position on abortion. “It’s not your business.” It’s between a woman, her partner, her doctor and her God.