LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY amethyst_hunter)

This is the rough draft of a letter I'm planning to send to my local newspaper re: the Planned Parenthood clinic scheduled to open in Aurora this month that's being attacked by dommies.

Here's what I have so far. Letters to the editor are recommended to be about 300 words or less (to maximize chances of publishing); I think this one stands at about 360-something so far:



I live in LaSalle County and have no insurance and little money. I haven’t been to a doctor in years because I can’t afford the cost, and I want to get contraceptive medication to regulate a health condition. I’m pleased that a Planned Parenthood is opening in Aurora – but disgusted that an anti-choice minority with questionable motivations and ties to religion-hijacking extremists like Operation Rescue is trying to bully city officials into denying women like myself affordable health care. The need for such a clinic is clear, or else the city wouldn’t have granted approval.

The vast majority of Planned Parenthood’s services consists of education (including, but not limited to, abstinence) and low-cost contraceptives, both things that prevent unwanted pregnancy and thus, abortion. Many women also take contraceptives for other conditions such as PCOS. To deny them services they need based on an authoritarian version of ideology that can’t be conclusively proven except to its believer is not only misogynistic and un-Christian, but life-threatening. What's advocated underneath the ‘pro-life’ banner of the ones waving it as they attempt to intimidate Aurorans isn’t pro-life at all.

I'm no more fond of abortion than anyone else is. I think it should be the last resort when all other avenues have failed. In certain circumstances (rape, incest, pregnancy endangering the woman's health/life) it may be a necessity, depending on the person's wishes. I won't presume to judge anyone for having had or wanting an abortion when I don’t know the particular details of her life that brought her to that decision. However you feel about it, abortion must remain a legal, available, and most importantly SAFE procedure. If women choose to abort, nothing will stand in their way. They could risk their lives in a DIY abortion if they feel cornered and desperate enough to try such. History has horribly illustrated this.

The best thing we can do for women is to ensure that through education and resources, they never have to confront an unwanted pregnancy in the first place. No manipulative guilt trips, no proselytizing, no misleading propaganda. That is the ONLY way the abortion rate will ever go down in the long-term view.

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Did I overdo it on the whole abortion angle? Or what else should I add in there to make it more 'legit'?