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Pro-choice forces must
not stoop to violence
As someone who has been pro-choice for most of my life, I am extremally disappointed with the current Supreme Court ruling on the abortion issue. It is indeed a great step backward.
That said, I do strongly condemn the threats by radical pro-choice activists against judges, the attacks on pregnancy centers, the desecration of churches, the intimidation of parishioners, and especially the attempted murder of a Supreme Court justice.
Any threats or escalation of violence by the pro-choice side will do nothing but irrevocably harm our cause and alienate millions who would otherwise support us. This is, in short, committing political suicide.
John F. Davies
Berkeley
Contra Costa won’t
turn back on women
Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court trashed nearly 50 years of established legal precedence and undermined the ability of women to control their reproductive health. Despite the court’s ill-considered decision, all women in Contra Costa County will continue to have unfettered access to reproductive health care.
Contra Costa Health provides a range of services through its Women’s Health Services clinics, including pap smears, breast exams, contraception, pregnancy testing, options counseling, STD/HIV testing and referrals to other services, including abortion services. Women with low income may qualify for no-cost or reduced-cost services.
We are resolved to protect the health of every resident and ensure full access to care. Some of us can remember a time when we did not have the right to choose. Here in Contra Costa County, we will do everything we can to not go back to those dark days.
Karen Mitchoff
Chair, Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors
and Anna Roth
Contra Costa Health Director
McConnell, not Trump,
built conservative court
Re. “Give Trump credit for overturning of Roe v. Wade ruling,” Page A13, June 26:
As he has been so many other times, Marc Thiessen has it all wrong.
Trump had nothing to do with the appointment of the three latest Supreme Court justices. He didn’t know any of them or their judicial histories before Mitch McConnell and the Federalist Society fed him the names.
McConnell put his fingerprints all over these appointments. It has long been known that McConnell wants to reshape the high court as his legacy. With the steal of the Gorsuch seat (keeping it open for almost a year because it was “too close to an election”) and the quick installation of Amy Coney Barrett (even though the election was less than a month away), it gave McConnell – the hypocrite – the opportunity to stack the bench. The result may cement McConnell‘s legacy as the worst Senate leader in decades.
Stacie Thomas
Fremont
Right-wing playing God
with gun, Roe decisions
On June 24, the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. This is no surprise since Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh all lied in their confirmation hearings. Their hypocrisy is absolutely nauseating.
On June 23, the Court ruled that it’s legal to carry a concealed handgun in public. Handguns kill people, but I guess that’s OK with them.
The Republican governors, senators, other legislators and court members claim that banning a woman’s right to choose is pro-life, yet they will not ban assault weapons and other weapons that kill many thousands of people. Also, some want to ban abortions at the moment of fertilization. How do they know the nanosecond that happens? Are they God? I guess they think they are.
Ramona Krausnick
Dublin
Newsom must revive,
pass the Vision Act
I urge Gov. Gavin Newsom, in the strongest possible terms, to support and sign the Vision Act.
It is unconscionable that the state of California continues to allow people who are being released from prisons, on parole, to be instantly handed over to ICE for immediate detention in one of their facilities, maybe in this state or maybe hundreds or thousands of miles from their families.
It is very difficult to obtain parole in California, and there is absolutely no need to further detain parolees just because of their immigration status. And as we are all too well aware, the conditions which prevail in these largely private detention centers, which California legislators voted to ban in 2019, though it was overturned on appeal, are absolutely abominable.
It is past time to end these vile practices, which merely aid and abet a costly federal program that is itself anathema to the values of the American people.
Caroline Lehman
Albany
Source: www.mercurynews.com