On July 6, 2022

Roe opponents are misguided

Dear Editor, While I was listening to the news about Roe v. Wade and the Supreme Court, a young man was interviewed. He was excited about all of the thousands of lives that will be saved. I would like to ask him (and others who agree with him) if they will help support:

  • The family who loses mother and wife through pregnancy complications?
  • The family of the teen or preteen girl who has a baby and lacks the maturity to care for it?
  • The family who has a child with profound disabilities and requires full-time care and thousands or millions of dollars for care?
  • The family who can barely, if at all, care for the existing family and now has another?
  • The single mother who will need to choose between caring for her infant or maintaining a full-time job?

And I hear the argument that the woman should never have gotten pregnant. For some, they did not understand the consequences. For some, it was unintended consequences. Some wanted a baby but are faced with severe consequences. Some lacked the ability to put the consequences before the biological urge.

But, I repeat. Many of these families are going to need help. They make the choice based on the information they have. Who are we to judge the correctness of these choices? They should each have the right to make choices based on the information they may have. You are not walking in their moccasins.

Holly Puterbaugh,
Middlebury

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Homeless legislation encounters Sturm and Drang

May 7, 2025
A cohort of Vermont’s social service providers has embarked on an editorial campaign challenging the House’s recent legislation that would disrupt the status quo of homeless services funding administration. Angus Chaney, executive director of Rutland’s Homeless Prevention Center (HPC), appears to be the author of the editorial and is joined by about a dozen fellow…

From incarceration to community care: Reinvest in health, justice, common good

May 7, 2025
By Brian Cina Editor’s note: Brian Cina is a VermontState Representative for Chittenden-15. Cina is a clinical social worker with a full-time therapy practice and is a part-time crisis clinician. State-sanctioned punishment and violence perpetuate harm under the guise of accountability, justice, and public safety. Since 2017, Governor Phil Scott has pushed for new prisons…

Tech, nature are out of synch

May 7, 2025
Dear Editor, I have been thinking since Earth Day about modern technology and our environment and how much they are out of touch with each other.  Last summer, my wife and I traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska, for a wedding. While there, we went to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. It…

Under one roof: Vermont or bust!

May 7, 2025
Dear Editor, We’re heading north and so excited. We’re moving full time to Vermont! For decades we’ve been snow birds, like my parents, spending half the year in Bradenton, Florida. But now our Florida house is up for sale — a 1929 Spanish Mediterranean brimming with beauty and charm. A young family we hope will…