The violent language used by the Maine legislators regarding Planned Parenthood (guest column, Sept. 27) is deeply disturbing, apart from the unfounded accusations. Their references to “butchering of unborn babies,” “harvesting from baby bodies,” and “murder” demonizes everyone with another view. I place very high value on the lives of those human beings who have suffered the destructive consequences of unwanted pregnancies.

Pregnancy is a marvel of nature but, for many young girls and women, it is a source of profound despair, a destroyer of life goals, an end of the person they had aspired to be. For many around the world, it is a death sentence. Annually, nearly 290,000 teens and women die from pregnancy-related causes and millions more suffer serious life-long disabilities. The children left behind join millions of others suffering violence, exploitation and abuse.

In the U.S., hundreds of thousands of children spend time in foster care, with 100,000 waiting to be adopted. Heartbreakingly, more than 20,000 age out of the foster care without ever having been adopted. I care about them all, deeply.

I respect those who oppose abortion and who — like Pope Francis — are resolutely determined to protect human beings from the moment of birth to the end of their days.

The legislators’ language excludes me from “human beings of good character and clear conscience” and contradicts the pope’s admonition to Congress to guard against the temptation of “… the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners.”

Norine Jewell, Wayne

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