How to build a healthy society after Roe

What’s next for abortion pills after Roe? | July 10

Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, I think now is the time for systemic changes in our society that would serve to decrease, at least, the major reason women/girls choose abortion. According to the Guttmacher Institute that tracks abortion statistics, 75% of those who choose abortion are below poverty level or low income.

Both sides of the issue could be supporting efforts — whether through policies, laws, practice, etc. — to build a foundation in our society where everyone has enough to eat, can afford safe housing, health care, child care, opportunities for affordable education/training for a living wage full time job, paid family leave, access to safe birth control, practical comprehensive sex education, etc. All of this can be achieved without infringing on the safety, security and basic quality of life needs or rights of another. I so desire a caring, nurturing society.

Banning abortion may make a dent in the number of abortions, but without a comprehensive systemic change in our society, quality of life will decrease, and disparity in equal rights/protections issues will increase. A healthy society should strive to act in good faith by listening with empathetic hearts to find common ground toward the common good regarding all issues. Let’s choose in good faith to be the example of a healthy, respectful society open to growing toward being the best version of humanity, you know, “We, the people ... a more perfect union...” and all.

A. O’Brien, Pinellas Park

It’s a state issue now

A new abortion poll lays bare the GOP’s post-Roe dilemmas | July 10

Voters need to be aware that the issue of women’s rights to control their own bodies is no longer merely a federal issue, thanks to the recent Supreme Court decision. More than ever, voters’ choices in state races — Florida House, Senate and governorship — are going to determine the future of the issue, though the U.S. Senate and House could still enact legislation on the issue, making them as important as ever. As the late House Speaker Tip O’Neill used to say, “All politics is local,” and that reality needs to guide our choices in August and November.

Stephen Phillips, St. Petersburg

No safety in numbers

Weapons of war | Letter, July 9

Lots of numbers appear in your paper every day. Jobs up, unemployment down, gas up but now down, etc. But here are the numbers that really caught my eye from 2021: Gun deaths in Japan — 1; gun deaths in the United States — 45,000. Doesn’t the guns rights crowd always tell us that the more guns there are, the safer we will all be?

Scott Cochran, Tampa