The right to life v. the right to privacy
In a recent letter to the editor (Montanan’s constitutional right to privacy worth fighting for, July 10) my Democrat opponent for Senate District 4 (Kalispell), tries to make the argument that the right of privacy trumps the right to life.
This narcissistic and selfish view of a woman’s right to extinguish the life another person because of whatever “private” decision they want to make is as immoral as a government executing someone without due process of law.
It is also the same argument pre-Civil War Democrats made claiming their property rights were more important than the civil rights of their slaves. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees “No State shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.”
Since modern science has proved that upon conception, a new and distinct DNA has been created, this new person is entitled to due process of law before its life can be extinguished.
Making the claim that a non-viable, unborn child is not entitled to due process means that anyone who needs the care of others to survive can be denied due process and subsequently be euthanized.
Euthanasia has been morally repugnant for centuries. Abortion upon demand is no different than society adopting the practices of Nazi Germany and executing whomever it decided was undesirable or non-productive. The charnel houses of the concentration camps pales in comparison to the millions of American citizens aborted in America since 1973.
The repeal of Roe v. Wade now means that the sovereign people of Montana can decide through their elected representatives how to address this issue. The Dobbs decision did not address the morality of abortion, it dealt with the unconstitutionality of the court’s jurisdiction in Roe.
Proponents of abortion upon demand are claiming that the Armstrong decision is Montana’s Roe v. Wade. For the time being that is true. But the Montana Constitution provides the remedy for policies that the sovereign people of Montana decide are wrong. The 68th Legislature of the great state of Montana will address this great issue of life v. privacy.
It is up to the reader to choose wisely those Representatives that will deal with this in a compassionate, moral and sustainable manner.
Rep. John Fuller, R-Whitefish, is a Republican candidate for Senate District 4.