Condescending tone

Dear editor:

Reading your viewpoints section today found me in a state of absolute incense. You chose to print not one, but two viewpoints by conservative men, for whom abortion will be a simple theoretical issue.

Mr. Gitz’ take on the matter seemed to be that these women are just up in hysterics (a word he used twice) that Roe vs. Wade is likely to be overturned. Are any of your readers aware that the maternal mortality rate in the U.S. in 2020 is 23.8 deaths per 100,000? This is with access to abortion, mind you. There is nowhere for those figures to go but up if Roe v. Wade were turned over.

For those men, these may be acceptable casualties as long as their understanding of the Constitution is upheld or Republicans are winning. For me, these are real women who are ripped from their families and communities too soon. Women who matter as actual people, not acceptable theoretical losses. Forgive me for being “hysterical” at the increase of preventable loss of life. Gitz went on to claim that “Most legal scholars inwardly know that Roe was poorly reasoned, but, being supporters to a right to abortion, don’t want to make much of a fuss about it.” Where is his research? I understand this is a viewpoints column, but do the writers get to claim to simply know the thoughts of others?

Gitz also demonstrates a staggering intentional misunderstanding of the Ninth Amendment, through which he claims the right to abortion was “poorly reasoned.” Mr. Thiessen, on the other hand, took the approach that this was a political victory for the Republicans. Forget the lives forever changed and lost, but thank goodness the Republicans have a win, as if this were a mere sporting event to him. At least Mr. Thiessen didn’t feign telepathy, like his peer Mr. Gitz. Thiessen repeatedly chooses to regurgitate sound bites from such unbiased sources (ha!) as Fox News that use biased data and abortion to vilify Democrats, claiming, “The new Democratic orthodoxy is taxpayer funded, abortion-on-demand up to the moment of birth.” Who is having abortions up to the moment of birth? I want real data, because this reads like a campfire story cooked up to scare pearl-clutching Republicans.

I can guarantee that any woman getting an abortion in the third trimester did not do this on a whim. This would be a rare, heartbreaking decision made with a health care professional. This clearly means nothing when you’re rooting for Republicans in a midterm election year, like you’re rooting for your team at the Super Bowl. I am disgusted that the viewpoints section today was dominated by men adopting a condescending tone, reducing legitimate concerns to mere “hysterics” and hyperbole due to the fact that this is a women’s issue and therefore nothing that will affect them personally. Shame on these authors that they can’t be bothered to look any further than themselves, but I guess that’s what gives you a viewpoints column.

A. Bowen Hot Springs