Gloucester Daily Times Debate on Abortion (101)

June 28, 1984

(out of chronological order on webpage)

Pro-Life Residents Respond: An Act of Violence Which Kills

To the Editor:

In your June 19th editorial regarding legislative limits to abortion, you opined the following as truth: “Morality cannot be legislated.” One need only read this newspaper to find evidence that your premise is false. Morality is indeed legislated whenever the legislative bodies of states or counties enact laws which allow the government to prosecute those who violate the rights of any of its citizens.

Review these news stories which have recently appeared in the Times. They all report crimes against the moral welfare of society: 1) Burglars stole $150,000 worth of jewelry from former Olympic skater Dorothy Hamill. 2) Vincent Piro, the third most powerful man in the Massachusetts House, has been indicted on federal extortion charges. 3) Trial has begun for Theodore Anzalone who is charged with conspiracy to defraud the I.R.S. by laundering campaign funds. 4)Terrorism trial begins in Israel. 5) Springfield chief suspends police named in drug indictments in connection with alleged drug use in the department. 6) National Guardsmen in San Salvadore have been jailed for 30 years for the murders of four women. 7) Rockport’s nurse’s trial set for Sept. 11. 8) Lancaster man pleads innocent in fatal accident; charges against him are drunken driving and vehicular homicide. 9) Bridgeport, Conn., cocaine bust results in the arrest of 20 people and the seizure of a cache of porno movies and $1.2 million worth of cocaine. 10) Two Vietnam veterans were sentenced for burning a Buddhist shrine in Hawley.

Morality, M. Editor, is most assuredly legislated and then reinforced by government prosecution of those whose crimes assault the common good. It is the business of state legislatures to protect the public — every man, woman and child regardless of their age.

Abortion is a moral issue. Science confirms that conception results in the existence of a human being, not any other form of life. Medicine confirms that abortion results in the ending of the existence of that human life.

Abortion is the absolute discrimination against preborn boys and girls. It is an act of violence which kills them.

Judith E. Mullin, 24 Laurel St.