Dear Editor,

Thanks for providing a forum on the tragedy of abortion (Independent Voices, Nov. 14.) Apparently three of the four Voices favor overturning the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, recently signed into law by President Bush. However, according to Gallup polls, three of four Americans would ban PBA, in line with strong bipartisan support in Congress. Why?

Well, may I add my voice to this debate by asking us to actually look at PBA. The new law defines it “as the deliberate and intentional vaginal delivery of a living fetus which is killed partway through when the head or trunk to the navel is outside the mother’s body, usually by puncturing the back of the child’s skull, collapsing the skull and then completing delivery of the dead infant.”

What about the mother’s health (a legal sticking point for the Supreme Court)?

The new law states: “Congress finds that partial birth abortion is never medically indicated to preserve the health of the mother. …; poses additional health risks to the mother; blurs the line between abortion and infanticide in the killing of a partially born child just inches from birth. …” Tragically, the infant dies an agonizing death mere inches from personhood ” and full constitutional protection and privilege.

What about our humanity, our compassion as a people (consider the outrage over killing one unfortunate dog in New Castle)? Can we not care for all of God’s creatures, including a desperate mother, and this, the weakest and most defenseless one of our own kind?

Bryan Ramsey

New Castle