PETITION: Tough answers

Concerning Abolish Abortion Idaho’s anti-abortion petition (Coeur d’Alene Press, Dec. 31, 2016), basically their position is this:

“We believe so much in an obscure text of an ancient religious document that we require everyone else to believe exactly the same way. If a 13-year-old, barely pubescent girl has been impregnated by a family member we will force her to bear the child or charge her with first-degree murder. If a woman has been raped and impregnated by a stranger we will force her to bear the child or charge her with first-degree murder. If a married couple has been told their 3-month-old fetus has no brain and will not survive birth, we will force them to bear the child or charge them with first-degree murder.”

It’s ironic how these groups hardly ever suggest any answers to questions like: Where are we going to warehouse all the new “criminals?” Who is going to be responsible for caring for millions of unwanted children? Who is going to pay for the medical expenses of severely retarded children forced to be born? I’ll bet Abolish Abortion Idaho will be one of the loudest wailers against the high taxes it would take to solve these issues.

But, lest this issue be merely one of economics, consider this: It is UNCONSTITUTIONAL for one religious group to foist its doctrine upon the rest of us.

This petition should itself be aborted before this anti-democratic, anti-humanistic, anti-American idea is allowed to reach full-term.

JOE LYKINS

Coeur d’Alene