Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

I have recently become aware of the extent Representative Tim Schaffer has gone to eliminate abortion in Ohio. It's an admirable goal, one which many people share. However, not all of us are visionary enough to employ these novel and far-reaching tactics in achieving this goal.

Representative Tim Schaffer co-sponsored a bill last year that would make all abortions in Ohio illegal with no exceptions, even if necessary to save the life of the mother. This same bill will even make it a felony to take a woman to another state for an abortion, again, even if necessary for the life of the mother.

Truly, not enough women are dying during pregnancy. Lukily for us, Rep. Schaffer appears committed to increasing the maternal mortality rate in Ohio.

Some people might think Tim Schaffer has crossed a line, but I say he hasn't gone far enough. Here are some ideas for future legislation: girls should be required to register with Representative Schaffer's office when they get their first period, so he will know when they become important to monitor. Women in their 50's should then inform Rep. Schaffer of menopause, and they can then be taken off his radar. All hysterectomy decisions should be reviewed by his office prior to the scheduled surgical date, lest a woman and her doctor take this extreme measure to save a pregnant woman's life should all proposed legislation be passed. Women and their doctors simply cannot be trusted to make decisions Tim Schaffer will agree with on their own.

Some people might say that as an elected official he should be focusing on more important areas, such as bringing back the 161,000+ jobs lost in Ohio since 2001; fixing school funding as mandated by the Ohio Supreme Court; assuring all Ohioans have access to quality medical care, especially children, pregnant women and the elderly; or increasing Ohio schoolchildren's test scores to bring them to a level comparable to the rest of the world's children.

I say these people are wrong. Rep. Schaffer clearly needs to be involved in the private decisions a woman makes concerning her body, as well as the decisions a doctor makes about her medical care. Fortunately, Rep. Schaffer agrees with me.


By Pro-Lifer?

You forgot one

Perhaps this has Mr Schaffer too busy to look into the record 4th quarter profits the oil companies are reporting today. If you didn't know about this, check out Money.com, the story hit the site this morning.

On the other hand, Tim may not be interested in checking into a story like this if he excepts contributions from the big oil companies like every other politician does. Yeah... he's too busy looking into over-turning the rights of what women do with their own bodies.

Set Politics Aside

I am sure that I cannot begin to understand the anguish that many women experience in aborting pregnancies. Not only can pregnancies be life-threatening to mothers, but women who have taken certain medications, or who have certain medical conditions, can be at high risk of unspeakably horrible birth defects. There also are women who become pregnant due to rape or sexual assault. And many of us are old enough to remember the horrible injuries women used to suffer at the hands of back-room abortionists.

A child, of course, is always a blessing, and we should make room in our hearts for every child that is born, including children born, so to speak, out of wedlock. We should open our hearts as well to the mothers of such children -- something that people -- some of the same people who now complain most vocally about abortion -- were so reluctant to do in the past.

I am no fan of abortion. But there are circumstances in which I find myself unable to criticize a woman's decision to obtain one. Our Supreme Court has, I think, done a good job of balancing the many considerations that weigh on these difficult matters. I think that, within the parameters the Supreme Court has set forth, we should leave these matters to women, their physicians and their spiritual advisors.

I wish that politicians and televangelists would stop trying to make political hay out of this difficult issue. Trying to criminalize abortion is itself an abortion of an agonizing moral issue.

By RW

You forgot one other element...

women, their physicians and their spiritual advisors.. AND MY TAX DOLLARS!!!

MY MONEY IS BEING USED TO SUPPORT THIS MASS MURDER! IT SHOULD STOP IMMEDIATELY!