Abortion procedure not to be taken lightly

I highly doubt anyone takes abortion as lightly as you claim. Perhaps they may say "I better go get the morning-after pill" but I seriously doubt anyone says "It's OK. I'll just get an abortion."

Abortion is not a simple procedure. In fact, it is highly invasive of a woman's body. Call a doctor or look up the procedure sometime - you'll see that it isn't some simple clinic visit to be taken lightly. Additionally, many women who have had abortions have serious emotional issues afterward. So it is unlikely that women are as cavalier about getting an abortion as you seem to think they are.

As per your argument about your 3-month-old, you have to prove that the fetus is living being before you can compare it to a child that has already been born.

What is the definition of a living being? Being capable of living outside the womb? A developed body? A zygote? A soul (whatever that is)? Does "it" have to be conscious?

If you argue a zygote is a living being, I can argue sperm is a living being and that any man who masturbates or uses a condom and subsequently discards that sperm is a murderer as well.

Finally, it isn't true that all women who get abortions got pregnant from casual or irresponsible sex. Some are the victims of rape or incest. It is easy for you or me to say the baby can be put up for adoption rather than being aborted because neither you nor I will ever be pregnant with a child that will remind us daily about our bodies being violated. If your wife was raped and impregnated, would you insist that your wife have the child? If she decided that she wanted an abortion would you brand her a murderer?

Alex McCourt
engineering physics senior

Columnist goes too far to flatter women

I fully understand that women are more than capable to succeed and perform well in any given situation. And although there is much room left for the advancement of female rights, i.e. equivalent pay and promotions, this generation and future generations are overcoming our stringent chauvinistic attitudes and realizing the benefits that females contain, especially in leadership positions and in the work force. Yet I find it an absolute waste of time, ink and paper for Mr. LeeNatali to focus on how far superior women are to men. Now, if he is trying in some desperate attempt to appease the ladies and score points, then hats off, but if you sincerely care about equality among the genders you would not focus on the superiority of one gender over the other (hence how we got to this point in the first place and are now trying to overcome the gender gap). Instead, note how well women are doing and leave it at that. Not all men out there in the world are brutish pigs who spend "the bulk of their time watching television, partying and exercising." Let's take the mature step and view every person, regardless of gender or personal attributes, as a fully capable individual with unique talents and skills.

Joey Brown
psychology senior

Even to Poles, pope's role exaggerated

Regarding the letter from Olivia Coppus about the virtues of Pope John Paul II, I thought it would be worth clarifying a few things.

First, I am currently living in Poland and can attest to the fact that I have never seen a nation respond with more grief to the death of a public figure or with more pride in that person's life. However, even Polish experts acknowledge that the pope's role in the collapse of Soviet rule in Europe is frequently exaggerated. Was he an important figure in this process? Yes. But to say that his role "led to the demise of communism" is an absurd generalization of the complex processes that combined to end the Cold War. Even if the pope had been silent on communism, the system was well on its way to implosion.

Second, the pope has apologized for the sins of some of the church's members, not for the actions of the church as an institution. This might seem like nitpicking at rhetorical discrepancies, but it's not. The first admits that the flock had some wayward members; the second accepts that the faithful may have actually been led astray. This is a significant distinction. Certainly John Paul II deserves credit for taking even this unprecedented step, but again, let's not exaggerate reality.

Finally, the growth of the Catholic church in the Southern Hemisphere, in fact, makes the pope's conservative stance on the use of contraceptives all the more difficult to defend. In countries gripped by poverty and the AIDS epidemic, the spread of Catholic opposition to the use of condoms becomes a matter not of abstract moral debate, but of concrete realities of life and death.

The outpouring of grief from all religions and peoples and the wide array of belief systems and societies represented at the pope's funeral are glowing testaments to the respect and love earned by John Paul II. But in celebrating his greatness, it is important not to whitewash the realities of his papacy.

Mark Melamed
alumnus

Columnist thinks with head, not penis

This is in regards to the article that was written for the April 12 Daily Wildcat involving Playboy and the media.

I just wanted to commend the columnist on a very well done piece of work. I really appreciated it and it is nice to know that there are men out in the world who think with their heads and not with their penises.

It is not often that you see a college-age male saying that pornography and sex is a bad thing being portrayed too much in our society. Most males are like, "Oh yeah baby, give me boobs and a sexy body, and I am all there." It is really disgusting the way men are today. I know for a fact that girls can't even walk down the street without having some guy honk his horn or yell some kind of sexual comment out the window. The last time I checked, girls don't appreciate being treated with this testosterone-outburst attitude. I could be wrong, there could be girls out there that enjoy this type of attention, but I should hope that women would have a higher opinion of themselves. I, for one, don't enjoy that type of crude male talk. Men, if you think you are flattering women with that kind of talk, you are not! You are just making fools out of yourselves.

I just wanted Dillon to know that I give him props for stating his opinion so bluntly. Other people might shoot him down for coming right out of the blue and saying it so clearly. But I have the utmost respect for him.

What do you know ... there are nice guys out in the world. Thank him for holding women in a higher regard than just having a physical body.

All I can say is that he is the man.

Shannon Swiss
undeclared freshman