083178 Letter to Gannett Commenting on Abortionist Polly Rothstein receiving "Woman of the Year" Award
To the Editor:
It was noted in Sydney Stanton's article describing the ceremony at which Ms Polly Rothstein was honored as "Woman of the Year" that the honoree was "convinced that the issue of abortion is a religious one and that the opposition is chiefly 'a small minority of the Catholic hierarchy'."
The right to life is not an invention of the Catholic Church or the Catholic hierarchy. It is a biological fact, not a religious dogma, that life begins at fertilization. The United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, declares: "Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law." The Declaration of the Rights of the Child, unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, declared that the child by reason of his physical and mental immaturity needs "special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection before as well as after birth."
The report of The Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States contains this statement: "Every person has the right to have his life respected by law from the moment of conception. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life."
As was the case in Stanton's article, in almost every treatise on abortion prepared by a pro-abortionist, an overt or covert attempt is made to capitalize on latent anti-Catholicism as though opposition to abortion is something peculiar to Catholics. A modicum of research will reveal that Mormons, Orthodox Jews, and many Protestant groups and individuals concur in the belief that life is the basic right of each individual not because this is a Catholic teaching, but because it is, in the words of our Declarati4f Independence, an "unalienable" right bestowed by our Creator. They believe that each one has the obligation to respect at all times his own life and the right of others to their lives, Respect for life transcends Catholic teaching.
Since Ms Rothstein is fearful of "the government's role in the individual's abortion decision*, one wonders why the county executive was invited to read a proclamation lauding the work of an individual whose ambition it is to destroy the county's most helpless constituents.
One also wonders why the principal elected officer of the County of Westchester accepted the invitation to participate in the program of nine groups that have as their goal killing those members of his constituency who are most in need of protection.
An additional wonder is how the "pair of red booties presented to Ms. Rothstein is related symbolically to a woman's right to destroy her child. The symbolism is obscure. If the booties refer to a baby and the red color refers to the blood that was shed when that baby was aborted, then one would think the presentation should have come from the Right-to-Lifers as a reminder of the dreadful "cause" which the recipient so earnestly espouses.
Ms Rothstein refers to abortion as "a medical procedure." It is true that those who may "legally" destroy the in utero child are doctors, but this does not make abortion a medical procedure. Medical procedures aim to cure not kill patients. The majority of abortions are done for social or convenience reasons and the choice is the woman's alone. The doctor serves merely as a technician who executes not only the woman's decision but also her child thus violating a canon of medical ethics: "Do no harm."
In saying that eventually the public will tire of the subject (abortion) and legislators will get sick of the nonstop abortion votes, Ms Rothstein is oblivious of the magnitude of the league in which she is operating. It is the anti-lifers who are running scared. The pro-lifers are gathering steam. Akron, Ohio, has adopted an ordinance designed to prohibit abortion to the extent it is constitutional and to prohibit abortion after viability. The Louisiana Legislature has passed and the governor has signed a similar law restricting abortions.
During the recent trial in Santa Ana, California, of DR, William Waddill who is accused of strangling to death a baby girl who survived a saline abortion, his defense lawyer startled the court by asking the judge to dismiss the charges an the ground that abortion is "legalized murder." It is his contention that abortion is a continuous process that can extend even after birth and which must result in death, inside or outside the uterus.
Ordinarily honors are bestowed on individuals or groups of individuals whose efforts and actions have brought some benefit to mankind. In this ceremony the recipient was honored for her extensive involvement in the ultimate form of child abuse - abortion - a gross inversion of values.
Patrick H. McHugh