LETTER TO THE EDITOR

No parallel between abortion and the wall

Posted

TO THE EDITOR:

I wish to bring to your attention my dissatisfaction with a paragraph in an [opinion piece by nationally syndicated Catholic columnist] Richard Doerflinger (Building a wall against life, 1/31/19). In a praiseworthy manner, Mr. Doerflinger takes issue with Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his strong support of a bill to expand legal abortions for New Yorkers from 24 weeks of pregnancy up to birth. Which, all in all, would legalize infanticide.
In his column, Mr. Doerflinger makes an entirely unnecessary digression as he attempts to compare Mr. Cuomo’s action in New York with that of President Trump’s at the Mexican border. In consideration of the strong, unfailing stance the president has taken against abortion all through his administration, this is a cheap shot at the president.
In a nutshell, what he wrote: We have two top executives willing to shut down the government unless legislators help them build a wall against the “unwanted.” An analogy here is made of Cuomo’s abortion stance (wall against unwanted babies) and Trump’s wall against illegal (unwanted) immigration. I don’t ever remember President Trump calling any immigrant “unwanted,” legal or otherwise. The digression can be nothing more than a personal political statement, a fawning attempt to show his party affiliation, because it is insulting to any one of intelligence. Not to be misunderstood, the Catholic has many inspiring writers. That’s why I read it. But only if more of them would show the courage exemplified by our Bishop Thomas J. Tobin.

Leon Urban, Warren