I was sincerely disturbed to read Katie Riddle’s column Tuesday, asking, “How can society allow abortion?” Apparently, Ms. Riddle would rather bring an unwanted child into the world, to be raised by parents (or a parent) who did not want the child to begin with than abort it. This child will not receive the love, hugs or smiles that Ms. Riddle extols. Obviously, Ms. Riddle has the child’s best interests at heart.

Abortion is the hard-won right of every woman, for it is she alone who should have say over her body. The decision of whether or not to abort a pregnancy is (and should be) a private decision made by a woman and her health care provider.

Before Roe v. Wade, in the 1950s, roughly 1 million illegal abortions were performed in the United States every year, and over 1,000 women died each year as a result. Ms. Riddle claims that having an abortion “means losing the chance to do more with their life than making money, working and then dying.” I, however, feel that for some women abortion is the chance to do more with their lives than to spend them tied down by poverty and unwanted children.

Every woman should have the right to pursue whatever will make her happy. For myself and many other women, children are not a part of that — at least, not yet. Considering the fact that 49 percent of pregnancies in the United States are unintended, perhaps we as a society should focus more on contraception, responsible sex education and emergency contraception.

Sarah Seibert

STUDENT