Stillborn fetuses and abortion rights debate are different issues | READER COMMENTARY

I agree that we must think deeply about the question of when life begins and what right we have to make reproductive decisions for another person prior to November’s referendum on abortion in Maryland. However, the stillborn fetus argument is not an accurate comparison of an abortion (“What investigation of dead fetuses says about abortion,” June 4).

The fetuses found on an MTA bus in Baltimore were delivered and presumably were dead at birth, hence the term “stillborn.” These babies would have a funeral or memorial service in some families because they were “born.” The unborn, or the tissues and cells of a zygote, would not survive outside of the mother. They have not grown to the point where they would be considered a child.

If you want to limit abortions to the first and second trimester, which is primarily when abortions take place, that is a sound argument. Keep in mind that third trimester abortions are extremely rare and are only performed if the mother’s life is at risk.

I don’t think the government should be making reproductive health care decisions based on religion and personal beliefs. If one does not agree with abortion, choose not to have one. It’s not fair to decide this for someone else. The pregnant woman is a “life” one should care about, too. Not just the “life” of the fetus.

— Betsy Schindler, Baltimore

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