To Dylan Meche, Opinions Editor:
I take issue with the fact that you chose to publish your Roe v. Wade article at the end of the semester, when many of us who would ordinarily retaliate against it are too busy with finals and seminar papers to take the time to check you. I myself am one such, so I will make my statements brief and to the point: You write about the way that the SCOTUS leak will cause the justices’ decision to be influenced by public backlash, but the responsibility of our supposedly-democratic government is to make decisions based on the will of the people, so if they make a statement that causes a negative public reaction, that action is clearly not in accordance with the will of the people, and therefore said decision/policy should not be made/put into place.

I also find it odd that you thought it would be appropriate to publish an opinion article on abortion rights, given that your personal privacy and bodily autonomy will never be affected by them. As a male—and a white male, at that—you have more freedom and bodily autonomy than anyone else in this country, and it is repulsive that you would use that freedom to work against the freedom of others. Finally, there is no science to speak of that can prove the existence of a soul, or to specify the exact point at which “life” begins, by which I mean the point at which termination of a being’s existence would be considered “murder” and should therefore be condemned. Catholics and other Christians like you may believe that life begins at conception, but that is your belief. It is not mine, and it is certainly not the belief of many women in this country, which was founded on principles of religious freedom and which is supposed to operate with a separation between church and state. Since science cannot answer the question and the debate comes down to personal—often religious—belief, the issue should not be up to the state/government to decide, but rather to the individual woman. If abortion is legal at the federal level, those women who would like to have an abortion can choose to have one, and those who feel that it is immoral or unjust can choose to carry their pregnancies to term. The key element here is that each woman acts according to her own beliefs and operates with her own personal freedom to make decisions that will impact her life.

I hope that the Supreme Court realizes their folly and makes a decision that reflects the will of their people and protects the rights and privacy of women.

Sincerely,
Dalyn Regina Wilson
Graduate Student
Executive Editor, Manchac Review