The saga of an abortion icon continues

Joseph N. Bell’s column “30 years later, wondering about Jane

Roe’s alter ego” (Jan. 23) was interesting, but quite sad. Norma

McCorvey, alias Jane Roe, whose Supreme Court case legalized

abortion, is the perfect poster girl for abortion: A series of bad

choices found her with an unwanted pregnancy. She wanted a quick and

easy solution to her problem and sought an abortion. It was only

later that she discovered the abortion procedure is quick, but it

certainly is not easy, and like so many after her, McCorvey realized

the body heals, but the mind doesn’t forget.

Thank you, Mr. Bell, for an update on a very “used” woman who has

suffered the fate others have also experienced. Choosing to abort

often creates more problems than it solves.

RACHEL MICHAELS

Newport Beach

Recent articles and letters published in the Daily Pilot have

managed to jog this old fence-straddler on the subject of abortion.

Throughout my adult life, I do not recall much in the form of

reasoned debate on the issue. It seemed to me that any attempt at

civilized discourse on the subject of abortion always degenerated

into shouting matches between emotional people on both sides of the

issue -- with each side attempting to overpower the other with

volume, not reason. Hard as it may be to believe, through all this

rhetoric over all these years -- as abortions were performed at

ever-growing levels and anti-abortionists bombed clinics and murdered

abortion doctors in the name of saving lives -- I have remained

ambivalent on this issue.

Yes, I think I understand both sides of the issue. I hear and

understand the argument some women will make about wanting control

over their own bodies and lives. I understand when they say they

choose not to carry a fetus to term, regardless of the reasons for

the pregnancy. I also understand it when others vilify the

pro-abortion group as murderers and describe in great, grisly detail

the actual process of “aborting.”

Joseph N. Bell’s recent column regarding Norma McCorvey -- the

“Jane Roe” in Roe vs. Wade -- and his relationship with her

stretching back these three decades stirred something inside me. His

eloquent account of the tragic circumstances of her life and how she

has apparently come full circle -- now embraced by the anti-abortion

side, who provide her with the affection she has sought all these

years -- is beyond ironic.

I read the crystal clear response to Bell’s column written by my

friend and neighbor, Peggy Normandin, in the Daily Pilot Tuesday

(“Bell’s column paints a sad picture of America”). The placement of

her excellent letter, following Jim McGee’s loving description of

Sean Fenton, the young Yale student from Corona del Mar tragically

killed in an automobile accident recently, was like a splash of cold

water on my face.

I then read Barry Faulkner’s account of the tributes to Fenton and

found myself wondering how many lives would have been affected had

his mother -- for whatever reason -- decided to abort him. I read the

words, “person who genuinely cared about those he touched”; “He was a

rare spirit with integrity, passion and values of life;” “He was the

best person I know”; and I had my answer.

This was a young man who so affected the lives of those around him

that plans are afoot to erect permanent remembrances dedicated to

him. A conference room will be named for him at Yale, “The brightest

room at Yale.” A scoreboard on the freshman football field at Corona

del Mar is planned. And, as perhaps a perfect metaphor for his young

life, a large shade tree is planned on the campus to provide shelter

for the students who will follow him there.

So, as I sit here typing -- watching many of the wonderful young

children in our neighborhood playing outside my window -- I think of

Sean Fenton. I think of a young man whose incandescence so brightly,

and briefly lighted the world around him, and find myself no longer

straddling the fence.

GEOFF WEST

Costa Mesa