Thinking like that of Ken Harmon in his Dec. 7 letter, “Men have right to protect the unborn,” makes me furious. I can accept that “men have as much right as women to act for the protection of unborn, innocent children.” But I imagine we diverge when it comes to also accepting responsibility for those children.

Is he willing to help support all of those children who are born, including those with severe mental and physical disabilities? Will he support adequate day care for those children while their often under-educated mothers try to work and get degrees at the same time? Will he personally fund all of the needs of these children and families — food, housing, health care? Or is he willing to support government programs to help these people?

Who suffers more, a fetus whose life is terminated, or a child who is born and not well cared for, perhaps abused? And what about those families whose lives will forever change with the birth of a severely disabled child?

Women, and caring men, don’t choose abortion just to be free. They choose it out of a sense of responsibility for the lives they might bring into the world.

Valerie Marcil

Columbia