This is not a simple issue. The pro-choice stance is frequently minimized to ensuring access to abortion.,”This is a response to Eric Lombardi's column on the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. In Lombardi's attempt to "simplify" the issue, he has eliminated many of the important elements of this debate. This is a disservice.

This is not a simple issue. The pro-choice stance is frequently minimized to ensuring access to abortion. But pro-choice advocates also focus on ensuring that women have access to prenatal care, to paid leave from work after childbirth and to information about birth control. Don't pretend this issue isn't complex.

I also take grave offense to Lombardi's suggestion that the majority of women obtaining abortions are women who "simply don't want the hassle of having another child." You also refer to younger women who seek abortions as "young stupid girls." What about the young stupid men who are an equally important part of the baby-making process? What right does any person, particularly one who will never "go through a pregnancy," have to pass such judgment?

Mr. Lombardi, you have absolutely no idea what the mental, emotional, spiritual, personal, or physical reasons for obtaining an abortion may be. You claim that you are not going to "bore" us with your opinion on abortion, but it's clear: if a woman doesn't have a reason good enough for you, she should not have legal access to a safe abortion. How condescending, and how dangerous.

What about the "simple question" over when life begins? Scientific research into this question demonstrates its huge complexity from the fact that fertilization is a multi-hour process to the possibility for a fertilized egg to become twins up to 12 days after fertilization to the weeks of development between conception and the presence of brain waves.

Philosophical and spiritual questions as to what constitutes a person are equally important to determining how a society views life, something clearly evidenced by country-to-country differences in policy. Because this issue is so complex, open discussion is necessary.

Unfortunately, this is not a discussion we can have at Marquette, due to the constriction of any discussion of reproductive rights. This is not a simple question, and it shouldn't be treated as such. How unfortunate that at an institution where we are taught to ask difficult questions, we are prevented from accessing information which would make it possible to understand them.

“