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A Democrat’s opinion: This is what really unites us

By Jeni Alden St. Laurent - Guest Columnist | Jun 23, 2019

We are not a hive mind. We are not a collective of one that moves in the same path, even if that path is deemed the “Greater Good.” As a party, we celebrate diversity, open-mindedness and new ideas. One common thread that weaves itself in the fabric of rhe Democratic Party is that, as a group, we support each others’ right to have a differing opinion. For the most part, many feel as I, that you are entitled to your opinion, as long as you don’t tell me I’m not entitled to mine. Yes, my Democratic Party has many opinions.

When I read, “The one thing that unites all Democrats today is that you should have to pay for a woman to destroy her fetus – which she might be carrying for up to nine months – because she didn’t want her consensual male partner to wear a condom,” in the June 15 paper, I had a very strong guttural response.

There are so many issues that I have with this sentence alone.

As I expressed above, there are many Democrats with many views. We do not need to unite on any given topic. We should not agree and/or vote a certain way just because our party says so. To do so would be a violation of the entire democratic process. We should vote because we believe and agree on the topic because, as we see it, it’s the right thing to do. We should vote for the candidate that we feel will best represent us in our wards, cities, states and country. Again, not because we are told to, but because we’ve watched them debate, we’ve listened to their town hall meetings, we’ve read their press releases and all of it has struck a chord. Does this mean that we sometimes lose races to GOP voters that line up to all check the same box because they were told to? Yes. I would argue that it’s still the right thing to do.

Next, this knee-jerk, worst-case scenario suggestion that the reason women would want an abortion is because they don’t want the man to wear a condom, is an utter misstep. I can’t even read that back without shaking my head. How is it only on the woman to prevent her own pregnancies? Is the writer really shaming women for having sex and getting themselves pregnant? I find that reprehensible. How is this reason the only possibility the writer could come up with? What if the condom breaks, or fails or one or more of more than 10,000 other possible events happened to someone to put them in the position of needing an abortion? Not to mention the fact that whatever the reasons are, they are between the woman in the body and the doctor. No one else. The way this is phrased further insults women in general. Insinuating that they somehow don’t care if they get pregnant as they can always get a free, painful, emotionally heartbreaking procedure done to “destroy her fetus.” It’s a rare human who would be so cavalier about hopping into the stirrups for such a traumatic procedure. But, even for those rare humans, it is their right to do so.

Lastly, lets go into why could you not hear Joe Biden when he said why he reversed his support of the Hyde Amendment.

He said, “I can’t justify leaving millions of women without access to the care that they need and the ability to exercise their constitutionally protected right. If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s input.”

This is a women’s health issue. Specifically, women who can’t afford the help and care needed are the ones denied their rights with the amendment.

I applaud Biden. As the currently circulating meme goes, “Cheers to all the people who can change their minds when presented with information that contradicts their beliefs.”

Jeni Alden St. Laurent is a

resident of Nashua.

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