Dear Michael Vaughan, I would like to respond to your letter to Ms. Greenhouse regarding your stance on abortion. I believe it is pretty clear at this point how you feel about the morality of abortion and those who choose this option in their lives. I also believe you feel pretty proud of yourself, for choosing the moral high ground and standing up for the rights of the unborn fetuses. I'm also sure that you feel that the reference to your "female friend" is an adequate defense against those that might claim that you (as a white male) have no right to pass judgment on any women (or, at least, white ones) in "extreme" circumstances. I think you should get off your high horse, and stop pretending to feel compassion for people whose lives you couldn't even begin to understand. In order to do that, you should spend some time in a shelter for battered women, homeless people, and those so down on their luck in lives that silly words from the likes of you mean absolutely nothing. What scared me most about your letter is the condescending and patronizing attitude. Regardless of your religious belief system, and last I checked there was still (in name, at least), a separation between church and state in this country, the job of judging others doesn't fall to us. It is obvious to me that you feel the right to pass judgment in regards to abortion.

To conclude, I agree that it is wrong to pigeonhole someone because they voted for Bush or Kerry in this election. We certainly are very lucky to be able to share viewpoints so freely without fear of recrimination. But I am not convinced that you are genuinely empathetic toward the plight of those you so lightly referenced, and I think maybe if you truly tried to understand what some women have struggled with you might not be so quick to disallow them control of their bodies.

Bruno Giri
Athens