Letter to the Editor :Why are we even debating women’s reproductive healthcare?

Dear Editor:

As I sit here thinking of my rebuttal, I must ask: why we are even debating women’s reproductive healthcare [Feb. 8]? I am glad, ecstatic, overjoyed that you don’t want to control women, but unfortunately you support a party that does: we have six legislators who think women in Wyoming should have no control over their pregnancies. In fact, Speaker Johnson, as a lowly Congressman at a Judiciary Committee hearing, said, and I quote, “that if only women were compelled [i.e. forced] to bring more able-bodied workers into the world, Republicans wouldn’t need to slash Social Security and Medicare.” I think the thing that strikes me as the most tragic is when I was pregnant, oh so many years ago, I had an almost unshakable faith that if my pregnancies went wrong, my doctor would do everything they could to save me and my baby. Right now, in Wyoming, moms can rest assured and have utter faith in their doctors and nurses because abortions are still legal and they do not need a lawyer who gets to decide if your life is in danger. Will our moms-to-be in the future have that assurance? I don’t know, but hope is everlasting. I was horrified of the mom-to-be who went to her ER twice because of complications (her baby had fetal abnormalities) and she had to wait while her doctors consulted with lawyers. Although she was in pre-term labor, the lawyers and doctors sent her home to miscarry in her bathroom. Katie Cox from Texas — a proud Texan — had to flee her state to get an abortion. Her baby also was not expected to live and could endanger her fertility for future pregnancies. They say we have exceptions, but the reality does not match: women are being denied lifesaving reproductive healthcare. They keep saying this is to protect women, and I ask, from what? Safe reproductive healthcare? As to the EBT summer program, it is $40.00 a month per child, or $120 per child for the summer. Our school superintendent turned down this money, saying we don’t need that Biden money, but the state then took $10 million in federal funds for the carbon capture plant. Evidently, we can take government money for corporations, but can’t take government money to help feed low-income children. That doesn’t sound right. Hypocrisy? I think so. Last year, just 31 cities had no problem taking around $886,000 in federal funds; there are 203 cities in Wyoming, so that meant only 15% of the state received any help. I have to say that if I saw a young single mom struggling, I would probably take her a casserole and be a
friend to help, not turn her in. I see, really see, the low income of our area and I hope we treat those struggling with poverty with respect, not contempt because even low-income people deserve dignity. 

Respectfully, 

Lynn Meier 

Basin