In response to Heather Wiese Starr’s letter on the importance of carefully watching the sneaky “anti-choice” candidates, I would like to say that her arguments are lopsided at best and somewhat naive at least.

Plus, she opens up an enormous can of worms over the issue of abortion.

She argues that Dole and Bush are tip-toeing around the issue of abortion so that all the ignorant slobs of America will naturally assume that they are pro-choice. DUH!

What politician wouldn’t? Alienating any demographic group this early in the game would be political suicide! Even our current president has tried to soften his position by saying that he wouldn’t have an abortion himself. As if that magically makes his opinion more appealing to the pro-lifers.

This issue is not really about choice. It’s about punishment. We always have options; some of them carry punishments. If I choose to kill my plant taxonomy professor, I might get caught, tried and sent to prison. The legality of any act is ultimately a statement of whether or not the action should be punished. So, should abortion be punished?

Maybe. Maybe not.

At least Ms. Starr covered her butt on one issue; no matter whose side you’re on, you’d have to concur.

She disagrees with Patrick Kuehn when he stated that “no one’s ‘fundamental’ rights are at stake [in the issue of abortion].”

If by that she meant that someone is being deprived of life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness by the existence or non-existence of abortion, the issue becomes a question of whose rights come first. Which is more valuable, the life of the child or the liberty and pursuit of happiness of the knocked-up mother?

Ms. Starr also erroneously assumes that the president of the U.S. can control the “woman’s right to decide when and if to become a mother.” Last I knew, outside of rape, a woman always has the right to control when she wants to get pregnant. HELLO!?! It’s called HAVING SEX!

Now before you go making more assumptions, I’m not some prudish stick-in-the-mud; I’m simply stating facts.

Pregnancy is the result of sexual intercourse! I think everyone here should know that by now; unless I’m mistaken, most of us learned this in 2nd grade.

Every time you have sex there is a possibility that pregnancy could be a result no matter what birth control method you use. Thus, the most effective way to control when and if you become a mother is to control your raging hormones. Believe it or not, the federal government can’t force you to produce lots of tiny little Americans!

Indeed, Ms. Starr has been proved correct on one thing: “the decision to have or not have a child is a private one to be made by an individual, not the government.”

But the question is should abortion be a legal means of birth control? Or should it be a punishable act? I’m afraid she missed the crux of the issue.

Educating people on the positions of all of the candidates is a good cause.

However, I feel that Ms. Starr’s concerns are a little unnecessary.

Generally speaking, most Republicans are pro-life, most Democrats are pro-choice and most everyone who’d actually bother to vote knows that. The world won’t collapse either way the election turns out.

Lastly, taking cheap shots at Mr. Kuehn’s position is childish. Every voter in the United States has a legitimate voice in deciding the laws of the country. Abortion is not a strictly “woman’s issue.” No issue is.

Every law enacted in this country reflects on the morality of its entire populace. Last I noticed, men were citizens too.

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Jean Fitzpatrick

Junior

Biology and religious studies