Dear Editor,

Supporters of Choice and “Abortion Rights” tend to focus on the rights of a woman to control her body, to protect her physical and mental health, and to guarantee her right to medical care when needed.

These are all very valid demands. One more very powerful element and an important issue that needs to be seen by all is the fate of unwanted children.

Some people shouldn’t be parents. They might try their best to not conceive, but failures happen. Imagine being told you were not wanted. If balanced by love and care it may not hurt, but without that it can be a heavy burden. There are people who have children as their bodies dictate but they are not prepared to love and care for them. Some of these children wind up chained in the basement, fed dog food.

There are people who carelessly have children and neglect them in dozens of ways. Alcohol dependent parents might put their need for booze over the children’s need for food. Our Foster Care system is overrun with children whose addicted parents are charged with “Neglect” because they have not fed or bathed or sent to school or even clothed their children.

The nightmares of unwanted children are many. Unwanted children are prey for pedophiles. They may be sexually abused by a friend of the family and have their parent look the other way. Or one parent might be the predator and other parent not caring enough to protest and protect the child. Children have been left in alleys and dumpsters. Some are rescued, others aren’t.

Sometimes money is what the parent wants more than a child. Children have been sold away from their families in various cultures around the world. It happens here today. We continue to have a large market in the sale of newborns. What are fates of such sold off children? Do you really want to know? Slavery and prostitution head the list. Then there are the torturers, who revel in every hurt they inflict.

“Ah well” you say, some of those lost children get better families and become good people. That can happen. Ask yourself: How many people do you personally know who have fostered a child or adopted a child in need of a loving home? How many? Are you aware of the large numbers of forsaken children? Some of the unfortunates manage to mature and become good people. Do Not Discount Them.

Tortured people often torture others. We see this in some families through generations. Torture may be physical or mental. Some children look OK on the surface. They mind all the social courtesies and somehow fit in enough to not be noticed. Inside, there may be a sorry or even horrific existence. Then there are the children treated like garbage, wasted by the wayside and never loved.

Reproductive education well funded would seriously cut down the number of unloved children. Save abortion for times when a longed for fetus is not viable, or threatens the life of the mother. Also save it for the victims of rape and incest. NO MORE UNWANTED CHILDREN!

Abortion opponents, please think about this. Could you take on the love, care, expense of an unwanted child? And when will you? Think about this when you want to deny abortion. What if a person is incapable of parenting and they know it. “Use means to avoid conception” you say. Sure, IF the person has the ways and means of protecting against pregnancy. And people mess up. You know it’s true.

Let’s focus on the children who already exist in our midst.

StarMary Castro

Millfield, Ohio