This report of a newborn baby boy being left at an Interstate 75 rest stop ["Abandoned newborn baby found at I-75 rest stop," Dec. 25] brought to mind why I, a right-to-life supporter, vote Democratic.
The Republican side has gained support from fundamentalist and evangelical Christians on the sole issue of abortion. I oppose abortion. I also oppose murder, rape and money laundering. And, even though Republicans have opposed these crimes, there are those who still commit them.
Outlawing abortion is not going to stop abortions any more than outlawing murder is going to stop it. If outlawed, abortions will be performed in the proverbial "back alley." Criminalizing abortion is in the same league as criminalizing drug use. It doesn't work. We are filling our prisons with people who need medical help instead of being criminalized and sent to prison, ruining their lives.
For the single-issue Republican voter who opposes abortion, and has for the last 50 years, nothing has changed. A more rational approach, and the one I favor and why I vote Democratic, is that under Democratic leadership the number of unwanted pregnancies decreases because of better birth control education and services. With proper education and services, the baby’s mother could have avoided this obviously unwanted pregnancy.
You can vote Republican, and all that will happen is that your Medicare and Social Security will be taken from you while that money that you have paid for an entire lifetime will be transferred to the ultra-wealthy. And abortions will go on.
Richard Sutherland, Lakeland