Never necessary

I was shocked to read your editorial about the grotesque procedure known as partial-birth abortion ("Abortion Thunder: The Supreme Court Decision Is an Ominous Sign," April 20). Bringing my four children into the world is forever fixed in my mind as the most thrilling and remarkable experience of my life.

To imply that the partial-birth abortion procedure is ever necessary or safe is completely dishonest. Many in the field of medicine, including former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, supported the ban on partial-birth abortion and said the procedure offers no benefit to women.

To consider the practice to be merely a personal issue is a narrow-minded expression of the Post-Gazette's extremist bias on the issue of abortion.

DOROTHY E. BRANCH
South Fayette

Refocus energies

With the Supreme Court decision upholding the federal law banning partial-birth abortions, no medical practitioner or facility is going to perform the procedure, so proposed legislation by state Reps. Tom Yewcic and Daryl Metcalfe is mere grandstanding to capture the support of pro-life activists ("New Push Likely for Restrictions Over Abortions," April 20). The important discussion is whether a fetus with the potential to become a functioning human being is more valuable than that of a pregnant woman who is already a functioning human being.

The United States has among the lowest rates of maternal and child survival at birth among industrial countries. The pro-life enthusiasts might more profitably focus their energies there.

CORNELIA SMOLLIN
Whitehall

Sexist views

The April 20 editorial ("Abortion Thunder") and Ellen Goodman column ("One Woman, Big Difference") framed the latest Supreme Court decision as men vs. women. To quote the editorial, "Instead, the new conservative men ... have set the court on a new course, one that threatens trouble for women who value the right to decide for themselves whether to bring a pregnancy to term." You should have added, "or kill the (baby or fetus) before its head emerges from the mother."

The issue is not men telling women what they can do; it's that the court implicitly declared a late-term fetus to be a person.

Ms. Goodman's premise is that since men are without a uterus, they should not pass judgment on what is inside the uterus. Even as a man, I was once in one. Facts are independent of the sex of the scientist, philosopher or theologian. The question is, "When does life begin?" All of the rambling in these pieces was pure emotional and political fluff.

RAY WEAVER
Monroeville

We welcome your letters. Please include your name, address and phone number, and send to Letters to the Editor, 34 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh 15222. E-mail letters to letters@post-gazette.com or fax to 412-263-2014. Letters should be 250 words or less, original and exclusive to the Post-Gazette. All letters are subject to editing for length, clarity and accuracy and will be verified before being published.