Letter to the Editor: Three Questions

For many decades, we Americans have behaved as if there were no meaningful differences between our political parties and as if our lives in a democracy were secure. In 2022, we no longer have that luxury. Every vote in November will count. Here are three potentially life-changing questions you should ask before you vote:

1. Do you want a member of your family to carry any pregnancy to birth, no matter the circumstances, or be criminalized for not doing so?

2. Do you want your state legislators to decide that a member of your family may not receive a medication by mail, or may not cross a state line for a medical procedure?

3. Do you want your state legislature to criminalize the procedures your licensed medical doctor may perform?

These are measures that currently occupy state legislatures throughout the country in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the lives of women, but I am sure you can see that these deliberations affect all the members of a family.

Perhaps you can also see how laws like those being proposed may proliferate. They are fundamentally about the right of a state legislature to intervene in the life of a person, a family and a profession to alter their fates without regard for particulars such as the health of the person, the resources of the family or the judgment of the doctor!

How will you vote?

Estella Lauter

Fish Creek, Wisconsin