As Roe v. Wade is threatened, Inquirer readers respond

In recent days, we’ve received a lot of letters from readers about the leaked Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that has rendered abortion legal in the U.S. since the 1970s. We present a sample below.

» READ MORE: Hundreds of Roe v. Wade supporters in Philly protest a ‘worst nightmare’ for abortion rights

In 1992, when Casey v. Planned Parenthood was before the Supreme Court, I served as the public face of a Quaker-led effort to create a nationwide network of supporters to help transport women across state lines, should Casey prevail. The Casey decision, which could have required “spousal notification” and “parental consent,” instead, solidified Roe by creating the “undue burden” standard on future abortion restrictions. As we know from the leaked Alito draft decision, all of that is now in jeopardy. Quakers and people of faith everywhere are springing into action to ensure that everyone understands that the antidote to this disgraceful effort is to elect Democrats up and down the ballot in the 2022 midterm elections. In doing so, we can end the vice-like grip the minority Republican party has on our lives and our country. — Mary Ellen McNish, Philadelphia

If you think abortion is murder and are worried about every fetus, then I assume logically you are concerned about all children who are born, regardless of culture, religion, immigrant status, sex, or income. Therefore you should use all your powers, energies, and resources to protect and nurture every child born. This means no child goes hungry, is without a home, and all have nurturing adults around them. You will be promoting head start, high-quality education, and health care for all children. If you do not promote a good life for living children, I can only assume you believe life begins at conception and ends at birth. — Susan Thompson, Newtown

For women, there has always been a modicum of truth in the words, “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” This has been true since the beginning of time.

The leaked SCOTUS draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade written by Justice Alito is a challenge not just to women’s rights but the Right to Privacy — for everyone — as stated in the U.S. Constitution.

This decision, if it comes to fruition, will drive liberals (both men and women) to vote in unprecedented numbers in the November 2022 midterms. Conservatives should be careful about what they wish for. — Cindy Gelman Singer, Philadelphia

We now know that we need the Senate to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (which the House has already passed). Clearly, if Roe v. Wade is overturned, no woman should consent to have sex with a man unless both of them are prepared to care for a child for the next 18 years + 9 months from that moment. Birth control doesn’t always work. And if the sex is forced upon her, a woman should definitely have a choice of ending the pregnancy, particularly if the father is a relative or rapist. Women know if they are able – physically, emotionally, and financially – to raise a child. They should be the deciders, along with their doctors.

I am fortunate to be the grandmother of an adored 10-month-old girl. When she grows up, I would not want her to be forced to bear a child she was wise enough to know she would be unable to care for. — Sue Edwards, Swarthmore

I am a pro-life woman — meaning I am anti-abortion, anti-death penalty, anti-poverty, anti-abuse, anti-discrimination, etc.

While I am against abortion, I believe and understand that women must have the right to choose what they do with their bodies. There is a myriad of reasons that some women choose to have an abortion.

If Roe vs. Wade is to be revoked, then I believe that all citizens in every state in our country must simultaneously promote and vote for legislation that supports affordable pre- and post-natal care for all mothers and their families, including both medical and mental health care and counseling. We must also promote and vote for legislation that provides excellent medical care, safe housing, healthy food, adequate clothing, and exceptional educational opportunities for every child and their families born in our country. But of course, I’m dreaming. I do hope not. — Suzy Eyler, Deptford

All of a sudden this Latin phrase has come front and center with the leaking of a potential ruling by the Supreme Court. The doctrine of stare decisis apparently refers to legal rulings that are settled law, that what was ruled on last week cannot be willy-nilly overturned next week. The United States seems to find itself in a position of Roe v. Wade being overturned. What will be next? Does this apparent disregard for established law, and established precedent, mean that all of our laws are in jeopardy of being overturned? Our country will be in chaos. — Sheryl Kalick, Philadelphia

Trump won. No, not the election, but the war against women. Trump and Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans have struck a potentially lethal blow to women’s freedom by successfully ramming through and stacking the Supreme Court with conservative justices who have no qualms imposing their personal religious views upon the nation. How is this conservative push — to ensure that women never have the same freedom and autonomy over their own bodies that men have so long enjoyed — much different from a newly installed Taliban government decreeing that women no longer have a right to an education? We decry one while conservatives embrace the other. Both send the same chilling message: women are not free, women are not equal, nor should they be. — Deborah DiMicco, Newtown