Editor:
I would like to take the opportunity to respond to Nick J. Rivette's mention of my previous letter in his letter to the editor (Sept. 18). Mr. Rivette should keep his hat on because, unfortunately, I didn't shine enough light on the subject of abortion rights to make my point clear to him.
Mr. Rivette suggests that the legal status of abortion in the U.S. presupposes a judicial decision regarding the moral status of the fetus. This suggestion could not be further from the truth. When the 1973 Supreme Court recognized that the moral status of the fetus could not be established beyond debate by medical doctors, philosophers and theologians, the court asked itself a simple question: If the relevant experts can't make up their collective mind, who should? Thankfully, the court realized that it was not its role to impose mere speculation upon our democratic society. Individual women were given this responsibility, and rightly so.
Also, in regards to Mr. Rivette's question about the role of men in decisions concerning abortion, of course men have the right to say what they think and express what they feel and want. Men simply don't have the right to determine whether or not a woman has an abortion.
Mark Hedley
Adjunct Professor, Department of Sociology