Podhoretz on Abortion Issue

Podhoretz properly calls attention to the ethical dilemmas that are a consequence of legalized abortions.

By focusing on the moral implications of legalized abortion, he ignores the moral dilemmas that stem from criminalizing abortions: Forcing a rape victim to have an offspring of a heinous crime, compelling parents to dedicate their lives to the care of a child’s suffering from a degenerative neurological disease, forbidding birth control because, like abortion, it interferes with nature.

We have to understand that all moral principles have gray areas. In a democracy we should tolerate ethical differences by permitting individuals the opportunity to have their conscience guide their behavior, while we simultaneously have sufficient faith in democratic processes to prevent moral excesses. Those who understandably are dismayed at the inordinate number of abortions in our society should realize that they can be drastically reduced, as Western European countries have demonstrated, by effective sex education.

HOWARD H. KENDLER

Santa Barbara