This letter to the editor didn’t require much effort on my part.

I helped to write it more than 20 years ago.

The Sun had run an op-ed on abortion with the standard but misleading right-wing rhetoric.

Or as President Obama said of the gun lobby after the background check was defeated, “They willfully lied.”

I let the words of our law speak for themselves.

 

Dear Editors:

I write as someone who supports making reproductive choices available to all women, not as one of “those who support ‘choice’ at all costs,” one of many misleading characterizations in Marta Mossburg’s op-ed.

“Abortion is virtually available on demand throughout a pregnancy,” she asserts.

Under Maryland law, if the fetus is viable, an abortion may be performed only if “necessary to protect the life or health of the woman or if the fetus is affected by genetic defect or serious deformity or abnormality.”

“A doctor can override the requirement [for parental notification] for almost any reason,” Ms. Mossburg writes.

Our law provides that a physician may not give notice if “in the professional judgment of the physician, notice to the parent or guardian may lead to physical or emotional abuse to the minor, the minor is mature and capable of giving informed consent to an abortion; or notification would not be in the best interest of the minor.”

The people of Maryland have already passed judgment on these statutes.  They approved them by a 62-38% margin after they were petitioned to referendum in 1992.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-abortion-letter-20130509,0,1345277.story