Start at the beginning…

“The “rightness” or “wrongness” of abortion cannot and should not be decided by the government”, but it can be decided by Alan Smith in Western Kentucky Univesrity’s newspaper? He says the government shouldn’t decide it, but then he proceeds to decide it point blank for us in his commentary. The government is made up of the people, for the people, by the people. We are all the government. Smith is a part of the government.

Stoping abortion starts with prevention. We all know that making it illegal will not stop abortions. If you truly want people to stop making the choice that Smith deems “selfish” and “wrong”, start at the beginning. Less than three percent of healthcare is spent on prevention. I just wish we could all agree on that. That no matter what you think about abortion, you can agree that there are things that can be done to prevent people from having to make the choice. The first being not havig sex aka abstinance. But this does not work for everyone. It just doesn’t. There are so many things that factor into unplanned preghancies. Some may deem them excuses, but for some people they are reality, both in and out of their control. Yes one is reckless, selfish sex. But it isn’t just people having this kind of sex who have abortions. Married women have abortions. Women who are madly in love with their partners have abortions. Reproductive services and sex ed need drastic improvements in this country. I am Public Health major and I plan to go into this very area. That is why I care so much.

I believe that if you truly want to stop abortion you need to relize how sex ed and contraceptive access is the starting point. Arguing about if abortion is right or wrong is just reactionary and after the fact.

Maya Freeman

Sophmore

Oakland, KY

784-0255 (working a lot lately so you may not catch me at night! I work till Midnight!)