February 2, 2022

On Saturday, January 22, two opinion pieces appeared in The New York Times that comment on the effects of politics on the health of Americans.

In the first by Cecile Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood and daughter of Ann Richards, she notes her regret on what she believes is the eve of the end of Roe v. Wade freedom for women to control their reproductive rights. Her regret is that she underestimated the degree to which the opponents of Planned Parenthood in the Republican Party would go to overturn Roe. I feel her pain. While I respect the viewpoint of the pro-life camp, the consequences of overturning Roe are just too dire. Back-alley abortions will return and women will die for lack of access to safe pregnancy termination. I understand the need for revisiting the time frame when legal abortion should be allowed, but 6 weeks is ridiculous and the fact that the enforcement of the Texas law is supposed to be via ratting on your neighbor is absurd.