Jason Allshouse’s (July 1) letter got it right: Abortion is also a man’s issue. Five men and one woman on the Supreme Court just took away a constitutionally protected right of women to terminate an unintended pregnancy. The male impregnators’ role was not mentioned.

The same five male justices who empowered states to ban abortions struck down a New York law limiting where gun owners could carry a firearm. In Congress, most Republican legislators voted against the passed bipartisan Safer Communities Act gun legislation.

They defend a constitutional protection, which they say permits an individual to possess an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to murder elementary school children and teachers and “to shoot prairie dogs and other types of varmints,” according to Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, but applaud a Supreme Court decision that strips away a woman’s right to make her own decision regarding abortion.

Seventy-thousand women worldwide die annually from unsafe abortions where “very restrictive abortion laws are the norm.” (Guttmacher Institute). That number will rise after various states ban all abortions. The report continues: “While anti-abortion advocates debate, obfuscate and insist on legal prohibitions, the consequences for women, their families and society as a whole continue to be severe and undeniable.”

If anyone questions why more women will die, tell them it is because their elected male officials believe it is more important to preserve a citizen’s right to own a semiautomatic gun to slaughter children and prairie dogs than to affirm the right of every woman to have access to a legal and safe abortion.

Robert Lyons
Kennebunk

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