Letters to the editor July 17

The oppressors and the oppressed

Every person clearly has reproductive rights. There are no laws made or rescinded effecting that. Every person has the right to abstain from sexual activity or take preventive measures until they are ready for the responsibilities that go with it.

When someone chooses to be sexually active without taking safeguards to not become pregnant, they understand it involves a potential third person who they will be responsible for. Pretty basic and straightforward.

Once a baby has been created, the equation changes from me to we. Keeping it simple, the question becomes does this baby have a right to live or does the mother carrying the baby have the right to kill this person because it inconveniences them? The baby is not the cause of the mother’s or father’s problems. They had the problems in the first place and killing their baby is just going to make their problems worse.

Whenever people want the right to infringe on another person’s rights, it is always the same story. They ignore that the other person is a human being just like them and are only interested in themselves and what they want. They rationalize: slaves are inferior to their owners therefore the owner’s rights are all that matters or Jews are inferior to the Aryan race therefore they do not have the right to live if I want to get rid of them, or I am Russian and Ukraine belongs to me so I will kill whoever I please to steal that country, or a baby is not a person so I can kill it if I want to.

It’s the same battle that has waged throughout the centuries. The oppressors and the oppressed. So, which are you?

— Synoia Olson, Lakeside