Letters on abortion bill, Agenda 21, Islamic militants, infidels, immunizations

Abortion bill not about medicine

The Legislature is threatening women’s reproductive rights with the introduction of Senate Bill 95, which would prevent doctors from using their medical judgment to decide which abortion procedure is best for their patient – imposing criminal penalties on doctors who use a safe and legal procedure (Feb. 3 Eagle). I call this the “Physician Intimidation and Criminalization Act,” because that’s exactly what this bill is.

If passed, SB 95 would have a chilling effect on the medical profession and further marginalize women who are in need of abortion care. By banning the use of a specific procedure, the Legislature would compromise the ability of physicians to provide the best care for their patients, putting women’s lives at risk. When doctors don’t have the freedom to use their best judgment, it’s the patients who suffer the consequences.

This bill would attempt to ban most abortions in the second trimester. This is several weeks before the fetus can survive outside the womb, the standard established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade.

This bill isn’t about medicine. It’s about taking away women’s rights. It’s about manipulating a sacred relationship between a patient, her doctor and her family. And it’s about power. We cannot allow politicians to have this kind of power over women and doctors.

As a native Kansan, I urge the Legislature to oppose SB 95.

No conspiracy

Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Richard Ranzau continues to condemn and decry Agenda 21, but what is it? It is an innocuous recommendation for sustainable development written at a United Nations conference in Brazil in 1992.

Political wing nuts have decided it is a threat to us all, an opportunity for the United Nations and a world collective philosophy to run our very lives. It was viewed by then-President George H.W. Bush as a set of guidelines, an outline, some ideas that could be useful. It has never been a conspiratorial document to slowly ruin the United States.

The Southern Poverty Law Center writes: “Agenda 21 is not a treaty. It has no force of law, no enforcement mechanisms, no penalties, and no significant funding. It is not even a top-down recommendation, seeking instead to encourage communities around the world to come up with their own solutions to overpopulation, pollution, poverty and resource depletion. It is a feel-good guide that cannot force anyone, anywhere, to do anything at all.”

Our new majority on the County Commission sees conspirators ready to destroy the American way of life everywhere. Ranzau continues his bizarre path of odd extrapolations, which he assures us are the “facts.” It’s time that he exercise his mind and step back from the table of crank suppositions that have no credence.

Support goals?

I grew up in the South in the 1950s and ’60s. We had our own terrorist organization during that time called the Ku Klux Klan. Members were never more than a fraction of the population, yet they were able to carry out some of the same (though on a much smaller scale) acts now being done by ISIS, Boko Haram, al-Qaida and all the rest.

For almost 100 years, this organization was able to terrify African-Americans and keep them suppressed without worry about being held in account. In many of the instances when Klan members were arrested, juries would simply let them go. They were only able to do what they did because the rest of the population – while claiming to be good, peaceful people – in their hearts agreed with the aims of the Klan.

We are told that the Islamic populations around the world are good, peaceful people and that only a tiny fraction are militants. Could it be that the reason so many terrorist organizations are thriving is that the Islamic population, like the people in the South decades ago, actually support the militants’ goals?

Perfect world

Radical Muslims see us as infidels and want to eliminate us. Centuries ago, Christians saw pagans as infidels and almost eliminated them. Years ago, our Christian nation justified displacement and killing of Native Americans, who were considered infidels. We could have a perfect world if we could just get rid of all the infidels.

I hope you recognize the sarcasm.

Get immunized

As a concerned nurse, I am encouraging adults and parents to contact their health care providers and make arrangements to update their immunizations. Reducing and eliminating the diseases that vaccines prevent is one of the top achievements in the history of public health. Because of this success, most Americans have never seen the devastating effects that diseases like measles can have on a family or community.

Measles is a highly contagious disease that was declared eliminated in our country 15 years ago. This disease is on the rise again because of the increased number of deferred vaccinations.

Many people who opted out of vaccinations supported the anti-vaccine movement when a link between the immunization and autism was reported in a prominent medical journal. This article was proved to be untrue and later rejected. Others cite religious beliefs as the basis for refusing vaccines. Though religious differences should be respected, these people are at a much higher risk of contracting diseases as well as spreading them within the community.

For the health and safety of all Americans, get immunized.

This story was originally published February 5, 2015 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Letters on abortion bill, Agenda 21, Islamic militants, infidels, immunizations."