You have a registered email address and password on pressherald.com, but we are unable to locate a paid subscription attached to these credentials. Please verify your current subsription or subscribe.
Regarding the April 21 letter to the editor by Stacy Veevers-Carter opposing the expansion of abortion access in our state: I also am a registered nurse, and I have a master’s degree in social work. I am retired but had many years of experience working with patients with life-threatening illnesses, and with those on hospice.
My experience has been that a woman who seeks a late-term abortion does so for a sound reason. Once the abortion is over, most women are relieved, and feel they made the best decision in a terrible situation. I reject the idea that anguish will trouble them for the rest of their lives.
Ms. Veevers-Carter is entitled to her beliefs, but not to present them as fact.
I urge Mainers to support expanded abortion access.
Adair DeLamater,
Bath
Opposition to abortion expansion
This is the first letter to the editor that I have submitted, but I find I must speak up and stand against LD1619, a bill which would expand Maine’s existing laws to include abortions up until full term at 9 months. Currently, Maine law allows abortion up to “viability” which means at the point an unborn child can survive outside the womb at 24 weeks. If passed, Maine would become one of just six states to allow access to abortion up until birth.
As a mother who has given birth to two children, I cannot fathom how taking their life just before birth could ever be justified. I remember being in awe of these two babies who were perfect. They were fully formed, capable of breathing on their own, moving on their own, crying on their own, eating on their own, etc.
Adoption is a truly wonderful option for any woman to choose over a late term abortion. According to Adoption Network’s website (2023), “There are no national statistics on how many people are waiting to adopt, but experts estimate it is somewhere between 1 and 2million couples.”
Even if you support abortion rights for women, please consider this proposed dramatic change in Maine law. Understand that currently, there are no laws in any state preventing medical treatment to save a pregnant woman’s life.
I am asking you to let your State of Maine senators and representatives know that the upcoming bill, L.D. 1619, is going too far.
Marilyn Sprague, Woolwich
Opportunity and prosperity are not lost due to an unanticipated pregnancy. Prosperity is gained from our children. The future is ensured because of our children. Prosperity is for our children. The State of Maine needs her children.
The Great State of Maine is dwindling. Our population is aging rapidly. Our young people are missing up to a quarter of their peers directly due to abortion. Over a thousand Mainers were killed by abortion and denied their right to be born in 2021. The birth rate is falling. Each and every individual is valuable just for existing. Maine needs every single precious child if the state is going to continue to grow and thrive. Abortion is NOT good for Maine.
There is no good (social, common, or personal good) that comes from abortion. There is increased death, as every abortion ends in the death of a new person. There is an increase of pain, sorrow, low population growth, and confusion when the State leads the people toward abortion by advocating for it. Legalizing abortion services validates it as an acceptable, common, non-injurious social norm, and beneficial service. That is not the truth! The numbers reveal significant harm to individuals who have abortions. Abortion causes harm to the family as an institution and harm to the future prosperity of the state. Having a baby is hard. Raising a child as a single parent is hard. Facing the challenges that come with unintended pregnancies can be inconvenient and difficult. But Mainers can do hard things! Mainers are strong, smart, resilient, and resourceful. Let’s work together to build Maine and provide for her prosperity, even when it is hard.
If the state were to increase support for the services that actually produced prosperity, every child would be a wanted child. Increase low-income housing, education options, public transportation, job training, and free family intervention support services. Increase medical insurance, WIC, Head Start, parental leave, and childcare funding. All of the time, money, and resources that are currently dedicated to fighting for abortion (for death) should be redirected toward these beneficial services for life. Enhance pregnancy support programs, especially those already in place and funded privately. Make adoption free or low-cost. Trim down red tape and wait periods for those who seek to adopt. Start an “Adopt a Pregnant Teen” program. There are endless opportunities for building Maine up into a growing and thriving state, abortion is not one of them.
Val Flanagan,
Bath
Putting guns in schools is reckless
As a mother, grandmother, church member, physician, and citizen of Maine, I am deeply concerned regarding several Legislative bills under consideration in Maine this spring.
These bills are reckless and careless in their effect on the health and welfare of children in our schools.
LD 52 proposes to impose on school boards the responsibility to authorize certification standards and training programs to arm, and supervise armed, employees.
LD 1577 proposes that anyone with a permit be allowed to carry concealed weapons on school property. Since the age requirement for concealed carry permit is 18, this bill would invite high school seniors to attend school each day with loaded guns.
LD 518 ignores the documentation provided in numerous studies, that the presence of armed school officials has not decreased the fatal, or non-fatal, gunshot injuries during mass shootings in the United States. In fact, the rate of deaths, 1980 – 2019, was 2.83 times greater in schools with an armed guard present*
These proposals in the Maine legislature are tragically naïve. The idea of “good guys shooting bad guys,” over the heads of our terrified children, has no place in the serious legislative approach to removing the threat of gunfire from our everyday life in civil society.
We rely on a thoughtful and informed legislature to hold the line against such foolhardy proposals.
Margaret Duston, Brunswick
Electrifying Maine
We need to electrify Maine and America to save our planet. To do this we need to move quickly on permitting reform to expand our grid two- to three-fold in a few years. Then we can use renewables to replace gas, oil and coal.
Sen. Angus King recently gave an impressive speech in the Senate about our race with climate change. He points out we have 15 years to switch to renewables and to accomplish this, environmentalists have to embrace new construction. Environmentalists spent the past decades stopping a lot of damaging construction, but now we have to embrace expanding grids to transport electricity and allow mining of rare earths such as lithium, copper, etc. — with proper safeguards. Bill McKibben (Ezra Klein podcast 11/22) explains that mining the materials for electrifying the world will cause some damage but only about 20% of the damage mining fossil fuels causes.
To be able to permit quickly, King says there need be no change in environmental standards, just speed. He advocates the following: • One agency i.e. one stop shopping for permits • Time limits for the government to act on applications-6 months not the 10 years it sometimes takes to permit a mine ( He points out that Eisenhower retook Europe in 11 months) • Projects that will help the planet should go to the head of the permitting line- e.g. electric grid construction ahead of strip malls • An accelerated process for appeals • Everyone will need to accept new mining and power lines and let it happen quickly – (“You can’t be for EVs if you are against lithium mining”)
King ends with a Lincoln quotation “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”
Advertisement
Please consider listening to him and then call Senator Collins and Representatives Pingree , Golden and ask them to support permitting reform.
Nancy Hasenfus, Brunswick
Vote yes for Pine Tree Power
As you have no doubt seen, a jury ruled to allow Central Maine Power to continue work on New England Clean Energy Connect.
Our Power, the group running the campaign for consumer-owned power in Maine, is releasing the following statement, “It is clear that Central Maine Power disregards the wishes of Maine voters; that is why we need Pine Tree Power, so we have a power company that is run by Mainers for Mainers. CMP does not listen to Mainers, because they aren’t accountable to Mainers. They are responsible to their owners and shareholders in Spain, Calgary, Norway, and Qatar.
Voters have the option in November to vote yes on Pine Tree Power to have a say in their own energy future. The Pine Tree Power Company would be under the direction of Mainers; decisions will be made by elected representatives who will be held accountable to the people. It is clear that Mainers care about their energy future and are paying attention.”
Lucy Hochschartner
Deputy campaign manager, Pine Tree Power
Litterbugs
It’s so good living in Maine and in a rural area where we don’t have much traffic.
But whenever I drive down Route 27 in Woolwich or Route 1 in Bath or Interstate 295, my blood pressure rises with every crumbled-up burger wrapper, abandoned coffee cup, plastic bag, soda can, and liquor bottle that’s been left on the side of the road.
Advertisement
Fifty years ago you hardly ever saw litter on the roadside. Now it’s so bad we have to pay people to pick it up.
Why? When did it become okay to just throw stuff out your window instead of keeping it in your car until you get home. Is that just too much of a burden on your fragile psyche? Don’t you have a trash can at home you can throw it in? What’s your problem, people?
In the days of black and white tv there was a very powerful and EFFECTIVE public service piece showing an Indian with tears running down his face as he stood on a hillside looking at the trashed land. It worked. People woke up to the fact that this was wrong, and we stopped doing it. Getting those public service announcements back on tv could save thousands of tax dollars and give us our beautiful land back.
Paula McKenney, Woolwich
Thanks for supporting Student Aid Fund
On behalf of the Brunswick Area Student Aid Fund (BASAF), I would like to warmly thank the staff and students of Brunswick High School who participated in the annual Brunswick City Limits fundraiser. On April 7 and 8, the musical and comedy review at Crooker Theater collected approximately $4,100 in support of scholarships for local students.
BASAF is a non-profit whose primary mission is to award scholarships to eligible high school graduates who pursue post-secondary education including four-year colleges and universities, community colleges, career and technical education and graduate schools.
Scholarship recipients must be residents of Harpswell, Brunswick, Topsham, Bowdoin or Bowdoinham. Since its founding in the 1950s, the fund has awarded more than 5,200 graduates over $10 million to pursue secondary education.
The staff and students at Brunswick High School generously donated their time and talents to put on a show with 100% of the proceeds donated to BASAF. Because of their efforts and dedication, BASAF’s scholarship fund is both stronger and more visible within the community.
To learn more about the scholarship application process or to make a donation, please visit studentaidfund.org.
Kara Douglas, Harpswell
Michael Reagan’s ‘credibility’
I understand the need for and welcome editorials that I don’t agree with. But Michael Reagan adds nothing to the discussion. He persists in touting his father’s economic and social policies ignoring the fact that his father created a huge deficit by lowering taxes for the rich and building up the military. Republican policy has followed Ronald Reagan’s lead and run up the deficit alarmingly every time they get the Presidency.
Michael claims that Joe Biden lies and is showing signs of dementia. This without credible evidence. He is parroting Fox News’s biased opinion of the Biden administration. Perhaps Michael should pay attention to what has been going on at Fox News these days. If he insists on criticizing the Biden administration perhaps I would be more interested in his opinion if he actually backed up his tirade with facts.
I think The Times Record would gain more credibility if they chose another Republican commentator who actually said something with facts behind their words and left the vitriol behind.
