Letters to the editor on abortion, Sen. Marshall and insurance imbalances

Your vote

Karl Peterjohn raised an important point in his op-ed: “A free people must ask: Who controls our bodies?” American women have been asking that same question for a long time. This summer we Kansans will vote on whether women have autonomy for our reproductive organs or whether the Kansas legislature does.

This important question is scheduled for the primary election, when partisans are usually the only voters. Although the question may be voted on by independent voters, how many of them will be vested in an election in which they have no other say? Independent voters are a growing group in our state. Unfortunately many of them just walk away from elections when they don’t see candidates they like.

Primary elections are where many offices are determined. Being involved in the primaries is the best way to get your own views represented. The primary election reduces the field of candidates to one from each party. If you want that one to represent your views, you have to help get that person past the primary.

You may have declared your enmity to Democrats and Republicans by becoming Independent, but don’t lose your vote in the process.

Value life

Kansas is supposed to be a state that people come to for new opportunities, jobs and to raise their families. Instead, because of Gov. Laura Kelly’s policies, expecting mothers are coming to Kansas for abortions. What a great tragedy that is. Kansas is a state that values every life as precious, and our laws and leadership should reflect that. Luckily this year we will be able to fix both.

First in August we must pass the Value Them Both amendment to make sure that common sense laws won’t get blocked by judges because our Supreme Court invented a fake constitutional right to abortion. These important decisions should be made by the people, not unelected bureaucrats. Then, in November we must elect Derek Schmidt, who is a pro-life candidate that has fought for the unborn as our attorney general and who will continue to do it as governor. If we don’t, Kansas will remain the most pro-abortion state in the country. That is not who we are.

Roger Marshall

How much more can Sen. Roger Marshall do on a national stage to bring ridicule and embarrassment to his fellow Kansans?

He began his first weeks in office by signing on to a challenge to the results of the national election, and still refuses to accept the results. As a physician, he made a fool of himself by questioning the nation’s expert on COVID, Dr. Fauci, resulting in Fauci rightfully calling him a “moron” on a hot mike. Only lately he was on national television, one of a few if not the only U.S. senator taking the bait from some right wing media outlet claiming that the Biden administration was “handing out crack pipes to addicts”; a story that was immediately debunked. And now I read in the Eagle that he wants to introduce a bill with Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Jim Jordan to require a mental health exam on our elected president. Where was he when we needed him and how much more can Kansans take from this grandstander?

Insurance imbalance

Most of you who have children covered by employer-based insurance know that once your children reach adulthood they will be covered until the age of 26 thanks to the Affordable Care Act. I imagine it’s a great relief knowing that your child won’t have to worry about obtaining insurance while just starting their adult life. But there is a large part of the population who does not get to experience that relief. Adult military children are thrown off of their parent’s health insurance at the age of 21 — 23 if they are in college — unless you’re willing to pay a large additional monthly fee. This is unlike civilian insurance that keep them on until the age of 26 with no stipulations or additional fees.

Whatever your opinion of the ACA I think it’s unfair to exclude military families from the mandate. Adult military children deserve the same advantages extended to their peers whose parents have civilian jobs. They shouldn’t be excluded just because their parents decided to serve.