Open up the Planet Jackson Hole Weekly (August 27-Sept. 2, 2008 Issue 37). 

Read Gwenn Wadsworth’s letter to the editor.  She is reacting to Richard Albrecht (scroll down to page 8 for his editorial), who was reacting to a doctor in the woods.

She writes,

How dare Richard Albrecht (Planet Jackson Hole, Guest Editorial, August 20, 2008) try to impose his beliefs on us and insult women.  If I am not mistaken, this is still a free, democratic, pluralistic society! And yes, in this country, women do have the right to choose if they are mentally, physically, emotionally and financially ready to bring a human being into this world.

What a woman does with the cells of a potential human in her uterus is her decision; she may choose to consult with her physician, family or tarot cards for that matter, but she must ultimately weigh whether bringing a child into this world is a good thing for her and that potential human.  Albrecht chooses to have a god, pagan or not, to help him make good decisions, others choose to use science, reason and morals, not faith.

No woman wants to have an abortion any more than she wants to have any other painful invasive medical treatment.  It is unfortunate that in the evolutionary process our most powerful pair of bonding organs happen to be the same as our reproductive organs.  If the Eskimo kiss, by rubbing noses, gave sexual pleasure we would not be having this argument.  Sex is too powerful of an aspect of our lives to think that we can put it on the shelf except when the “family” is ready for a child.  Abstinence certainly has not proven to be effective so far in our society.

Albrecht makes it sound as though women are so stupid that they “get themselves pregnant” and then want to offend his religion by deciding not to bear a child.  Get real!

No woman should have to do as women did up until the 1970s and go to back alley abortionists to terminate unwanted pregnancies due to failures of contraception.  That suffering is over in this country!

I realize that many religious right folks prefer that women be subservient to men but they need to keep this in their own house and their own church not in our government and in our laws.  What a woman does with the cells in her body is her business not the male dominated Christian Right’s.  The Christian Right would do better to spend their anti-abortion energies on solving the human suffering of those already born and in keeping their own houses and churches clean of moral failure.  How about spending some of that lobbying money to educate women of child bearing age regarding contraception and to provide easily obtained contraception?  How about empowering women to make their own decisions regarding the use of contraception?

How dare Albrecht bring Hitler and terrorism into this argument?  His militancy at imposing his right-wing Christian ideology on this free society hints of burkas and female genital mutilation and public stonings.  I appeal to all women of childbearing age to reject this attack on our rights as equal human beings in this society. 

Shame on our medical establishment for caving into this anti-democratic anti-woman ideology and shame on you, Richard Albrecht!

– Gwenn Wadsworth, Jackson, Wyo.

In the same newspaper, NARAL jumps in with a paid advertisement:  Pro-Choice America calls on Pro-Choice Independent Voters to back a Pro-Choice Democratic Candidate.

But I can’t thrust from my heart the photo of a 16 week old after fertilization on page 3 of Planet Jackson Holeand this quote by Elaine Depew – “If You Could See Me Now!”

I’m getting my finger and toe nails; my skin is developing.  My sex can be seen by ultrasound if I pose just right.  I can hear sounds outside of your body – if it’s loud, I’ll jump!  I like testing my reflexes, kicking and punching with well-formed arms and legs (you may begin to feel me now).

I tip my hat to Elaine Kuhr and the Right to Life of Teton County.

And I see another paid ad in the 2008 JH Rodeo Souvenir Program.

It is an American flag with these statistics: 

• Civil War                   –     498,332
• World War I               –     116,516
• World War II              –     405,399
• Korean War               –     54,246
• Vietnam War             –    90,209
• Middle East Conflict –     4,000
• War on the Unborn   –     50,000,000 since 1973