Letter to the Editor: The Meaning of Pro-Life

President Trump’s recent uninformed verbal assault on Africa and Haiti reminded me of a talk by a missionary who had worked in Haiti and told of the many poor who wait at garbage dumps to pick through what the trucks unload in order to find food; their prize finding is chicken skins.

Haiti like many third world countries has been exploited by other countries for profits. In our own country profits and wealth take precedence over caring for those most in need. Most legislation and deregulation proposed and passed by the GOP at both federal and state levels will benefit the haves at the expense of the have nots.

Despite his unscrupulous lifestyle many people of faith support Trump and his party, believing their claim that they are pro-life but more accurately they are pro-birth because their  concern for the welfare of people in the poor and lower-middle class drops off sharply after the womb. Poverty breeds crime and murder and lack of health care shortens the lives of the poor and abortions increase when poor, pregnant mothers decide they cannot afford another mouth to feed. Trump and many of his party have given notice that economic enrichment takes precedence over environmental concerns and because they lack the means to protect themselves the lives of the poor will be most affected by environmental deregulation. The GOP stance against gun control results in many unnecessary deaths. Being truly pro-life means supporting measures that protect life from conception to natural death.   

George Krall

La Crosse, Wis.