Letters to the Editor, Feb. 21, 2019 | All abortions awful. Harder truly cares.
Keep our feet off this slippery slope
I read the letter “Aborting a Manson is preferable” (Feb. 11) touting the use of abortion in order to make sure we rid the world of horrific people. The writer lamented that Charles Manson had not been aborted by his mother. The person described horrific crimes committed against children, which seemed to support the idea that those women who had given birth to those children should have aborted them.
The slippery slope of abortion on demand is demonstrated by the writer’s reasoning. Now, proponents of late-term abortion state that no “healthy” pregnancies would be terminated. But how will “healthy” be defined?
If a child is deaf, has Down Syndrome, is determined to be the wrong gender or color or if, as many believe, a test is developed to determine the child’s sexual preference, will that be considered a “good” reason to end the child’s life inside the womb? Will we, as a society, be so locked into the idea that this choice to end a child’s life is none of our business that any reason will be good enough?
Putting limits on human behavior is not unreasonable.
Leslie Shaw Klinger,
Modesto
Reaching across the aisle works
Last month, I spoke with Rep. Josh Harder about job creation. He listened and spoke to me with genuine concern. I was surprised to learn he had similar thoughts and ideas about boosting employment, not just locally but nationally.
Recently, I heard about Harder’s amendment to help veterans get free child care while dealing with mental-health crises. That’s one less worry for veterans and, hopefully, the beginning of meeting more of their needs. Best of all, it was done with Republican help. Harder met with Republican Rep. Van Taylor, and they found agreement on several issues and both are committed to bipartisanship. This is great and I hope to see more of it in the future.
Margie Sue Brogdon,
Modesto
Harder sets aside partisan politics
Many of us are so used to partisan politics we don’t think much of it when we see it coming from local leaders; we almost expect it. Josh Harder did not take corporate PAC money on the campaign trail, promising he wanted to represent “we the people” instead of big donors. What a difference that has made.
At his town hall in Ceres and during his 10-minute individual meetings in Tracy, I was impressed to hear him talk about issues that are of concern to the Central Valley: water, agriculture, education, health care and jobs. Josh is not pushing his own agenda, but listening to each one of us to find out what we care about. He is our voice in Washington, all of us.
We can’t afford more of the same partisan games.
Pamela O’Brien, Modesto