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Contents © 1998
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

April 1998 LETTERS

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Thank you for your coverage of the break-in of the Marist brothers' house in Tijuana by Mexican federal police ("Chains, Doors, and Windows Were Broken," March). I read nothing of it in any other San Diego media.

It seems especially bad when this type of unwarranted attack is made on a religious order. But before we strain our arms patting ourselves on the back for living in a country where such atrocities never occur, consider the many similar attacks "mistakenly" made by our own federal police (FBI, ATF) against innocent citizens. Unless we as Christians concerned about the integrity of each human being rise up as one and protest each time one of these incidents takes place, we have no business sitting in judgment of the "third-world" tactics of the Mexican police.

-- Victor Ortega
Casa de Oro


SIMPLY UNCONSCIONABLE

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the exposé of the Union-Tribune's horribly biased reporting on baby-killer extraordinaire Ashley Phillips ("Sainthood of an Abortion Advocate," March). I get so angry reading that kind of nonsense in the U-T I sometimes have to put down the paper and take a walk.

This particular hymn of praise was written by Sandi Dolbee, who as the U-T "religion and ethics editor" has written many other articles about abortion and certainly knows exactly what Phillips stands for. To write the article like Phillips was the next coming of Martin Luther King -- to call her a "human rights crusader" for God's sake! -- to completely ignore the work she has been doing for the last eight years in the service of killing unborn children, to demonize the pro-life movement with the bulletproof vest anecdote, is simply unconscionable on Dolbee's part.

When confronted by people like Phillips I often think about the instant after death when they will realize they got it so wrong for so long there's probably no turning toward the awful face of a loving God. But that's sinful -- "judge not lest ye be judged." I have to confess the pleasure I take in it.

-- Mary Kay Kiralhy
San Diego


ARTICLES LIKE THAT MAKE ME UNEASY

While I would be the last to defend Ashley Phillips's work with WomanCare, it seems to me the article you ridiculed had nothing to do with that ("Sainthood of an Abortion Advocate"). Phillips is now working for an admirable cause, fighting discrimination and religious disharmony. Should the good a person does be negated by the bad they might have done in the past? In addition, it was a cheap shot and utterly irrelevant to drag in the part about her predecessor at WomanCare committing suicide.

Even though I generally agree with your pro-life take on things, articles like that make me uneasy. It's easy to sit back and pick apart someone else's story. Would any of your own stand up to the same type of sarcastic scrutiny?

-- Pat Buscalia
via the Internet


NINE MONTHS OF DISCOMFORT AND SHAME

I had a similar experience to the woman in your story ("Would You Like Me to Take You to the Clinic?", March). I think a lot of women therapists let their own biases lead their therapy. I too ended up getting an abortion, although I don't blame the therapist for encouraging me. I was too young, weak, and scared to do the right thing. And every day of my life since I have regretted it. You think you can justify having an abortion on a lot of grounds, but when I think of facing that baby I killed someday (I hope) in heaven it stops me cold. I know my baby has forgiven me, he/she's in a much better place. The hard part is forgiving yourself.

Please, if you're out there and thinking about it or know someone who is, don't do it. There are other alternatives. Nine months of discomfort and shame aren't worth a lifetime of discomfort and shame of a much different kind.

-- Name withheld
San Diego

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