Katie Palmitier (Oct. 4 column "Candidates must discuss real issues") comments that many Americans ignore the war in Iraq and focus only on other issues. She comments that the issues of flag burning, abortion and homosexual "marriage" affect "only a small number of people in our country." Yet over 30 million Americans have been aborted since abortion was legalized, and still over one million Americans are aborted every year. This does not sound like a small number of people to me, especially when you take into account the mothers and fathers of the unborn babies, which gives another two million people right there.
Furthermore, she comments that "after four years of Republicans controlling the House, Senate and the presidency, abortion has yet to be banned." While this is true, she does not consider the bigger picture in the pro-life movement. Nowhere is it mentioned in the column that the pro-life Congress and Presidency passed a law banning partial-birth abortion in 2003. Nowhere is it mentioned that President Bush vetoed a law which would have allowed federal funding to be used for stem-cell research and that the pro-life Congress voted to sustain his veto. And finally, nowhere does it mention that two anti-abortion justices have recently been nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to the Supreme Court - a move which could one day overturn Roe v. Wade.
While it is true that abortion has not yet been banned, it is unfair to imply that the administration has done little or nothing to combat this injustice.
Therefore, I agree with Palmitier that we need to be conscious of a wide range of issues at election time, but I hope that we can be fair and objective in evaluating the job that each legislator and government representative has done.
Michael Baznik
freshman
Zahm Hall
Oct. 4
