Editor:

When my mother was very young and just barely pregnant, she seriously considered having an abortion. In the end, she decided not to and my sister was born, a brilliant biochemist who gives so much to her community and family.

When addressing the rights of women to abort their pregnancies, we seem to forget the potential of these “cells.” We seem to forget they are only months away from being complete human beings who are entitled to every unalienable right under man, yet the only thing standing between them and existence is the decision of someone else.

In response to Scott Whitaker’s letter (“Women’s rights trump those of cells,” Nov. 11), how would you like it if your mother had decided to terminate your development on the basis that you were “just a collection of cells” without meaning or importance? How would you feel about your rights then8212;or lack thereof?

Alison Parks,
Senior, Film Studies