EDITORIAL: Not exactly supreme

I felt compelled to address some of the misinformation and misunderstandings evident in The Press’s opinion from Sunday’s paper. First of all, the presumption that same-sex marriage will somehow reduce the abortion rate lacks credibility. The percentage of unintentional pregnancies in women who have sex only because they couldn’t marry another female, if it exists at all, has to be minute indeed.

Secondly, the demand for babies to adopt has exceeded the supply from unwanted pregnancies ever since the legalization of abortion. I can tell you from experience, the waiting list for adopting an infant is, on the average, two to three years long. Adding more demand to the pool of parents wanting to adopt will have nothing to do with increasing the supply of infants, unless we allow for black market sales with babies going to the highest bidder. Most of the children in foster care and in need of adoptive parents are older and were initially wanted when they were babies.

Thirdly, most of us who have moral objections to same-sex marriage also have moral objections to the concept that saving the life of a fetus, or any other issue, is justified “at any cost.” The end does not justify the means in any situation.

That being said, I do appreciate your feeble attempt to bring perspective to the recent Supreme Court decisions. Hey, your editorial really could have been worse.

ALLEN ORTMANN

Coeur d’Alene