After spending the vast majority of my work life as a neonatal respiratory therapist, I have become familiar with extremely premature infants. They are adorable little people who respond both to love and pain. Hence, I hate abortion.

Criminalizing it, however, would simply create another crime syndicate. It would put women in danger and subject fetuses to barbaric procedures.

Our best hope is to render abortion obsolete through honest sex education and medical advances in contraception. As unpleasant as the reality of human sexual behavior may seem to some, denying it hasn’t really worked out. There is no need to abandon abstinence as the ideal. If that fails, motherhood and adoption always remain as options. Nevertheless, we should still prepare ourselves and our youth for heat of the moment failures that can lead to unwanted pregnancies.

Contraceptives need to be available and encouraged for all who cannot or will not abstain. If that fails, there is the relatively safe morning after pill which can actually prevent conception after the act and is ideal in cases of rape and incest.

Next in order of preference are medications that can terminate pregnancy before cells organize into viable human form.

Finally, there is abortion which must be performed by skilled practitioners as early as possible. If gestation has exceeded 20 weeks, anesthesia for the fetus should be considered prior to the procedure. It is imperative that repeat abortions are avoided through education and provision of contraceptives.

Accusation and condemnation haven’t served us well. We need to seek realistic means to end the practice of abortion.

LARRY FREI

Coeur d’Alene