Hormel letter: Foreman-abortion

Sen. Dan Foreman’s extreme views on abortion do not represent a majority of his constituents in District 5, despite his wish that this were so. Within a week as our senator, he’s already an embarrassment to most of his constituents. Instead of learning the ropes of how to represent his constituents effectively, he chose to step forward with a ludicrous bill seeking to prosecute women — whose lives he clearly doesn’t value — for making the difficult choice of abortion. Rather than learn what leads to these difficult and very personal decisions Foreman decided to simply criminalize women. Interesting that he, a man, would never have to be implicated in such a supposed “crime,” though husbands often participate in these difficult family decisions.

The number of people sharing Foreman’s views is shrinking. Gallup polls find only 19 percent of Americans think abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. A Pew survey from December 2016 found only 28 percent of Americans want Roe v. Wade overturned. If he is concerned about abortions, not just controlling women, I urge him to pursue preventative measures, like expanding health care and affordable — or even free — birth control access to low-income women and families.

This story was originally published January 30, 2017 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Hormel letter: Foreman-abortion."