Opinion: Abortion rights are settled law, not a bargaining chip for pro-life liberals

To the editor: Janet Robert ignores the fact that abortion rights are settled law and wrongly claims that “settled science ... shows the prenatal child is a human organism.” (“To right their political ship, Democrats need to welcome pro-life liberals,” Opinion, May 1)

While a child is, indeed, a human organism, the fetus in the early stages of gestation is not a child. More than 90% of abortions are performed in the very early stages of pregnancy. Of those that are performed later, most are delayed because of poor access to safe and legal abortion.

A child is the product of nature and nurture. It is often the same people who would deny a woman the right to terminate a pregnancy that she cannot support who would also deny her easy access to birth control or the support services that are needed for many women to nurture a child successfully.

To assert that “women are more than up to the challenge of unplanned pregnancies” is a spurious argument with implications that women should, once again, become hostages to their childbearing function. That would undermine all of the rights that women have fought so hard to gain.

Renee Dernburg, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Robert couldn’t be more right.

As the Democratic Party transforms itself into the party of abortion, with Chairman Thomas Perez excluding pro-life candidates from its ranks, it has lost its traditional constituency: Catholics who almost always vote for the winner, the working class, an increasing number of young people and even many Hispanics.

In the 2016 election, the party platform included repeal of the Hyde Amendment, ignoring the fact that nearly half of all Democrats do not want taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. On this issue the Democrats have become as intransigent as the National Rifle Assn. is about guns.

The Rev. Thomas P. Rausch, Los Angeles

The writer is a professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University.

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To the editor: There are many Democrats who are pro-life, many who are pro-choice, and many who believe that abortion should be available and rare. Let us respect each other enough to debate this issue rationally, and compromise where we can.

To fully respect life, we need to stick together to preserve the environment, welcome immigrants, strengthen education, provide health coverage to all and protect the sick and the elderly. After all, doesn’t the Democratic Party have a big tent under which all can find shelter?

Marea Kelly, Pacific Palisades

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