Dear Walker: Don't Sign the "I HATE WOMEN BILL"

Scott Walker: Don’t sign the “I Hate Women Bill!”

Political leaders’ personal/religious views on abortion are irrelevant. Your job is to practice your religion, not to legislate it. Do Republicans believe in small government and privacy or not.

You are considering signing legislation that would be torture for many women.

I have a friend in Kentucky who found that she was carrying a terribly malformed fetus that was unlikely to live more than a few moments after birth. She & her husband were grief stricken and decided to have an abortion - and, you want to prevent them from having an abortion or add another roadblock to their tragic journey?

Rape victims (about 32,000/year get pregnant) often have vaginal damages, tears, rips, cuts, bruising, as well as having been beaten and bruised from head to toe.

Sometimes women and young girls are raped with metal and wooden objects. Sometimes their hair is pulled out in chunks.

Rape victims have to spend hours in the ER - in agony. They have to take a toxic HIV anti-viral and perhaps other medications. They may have to take  medication for anxiety and depression, in addition to any other medication they were on. You would force them to endure a dangerous pregnancy if you could, but instead you are considering signing a bill to force them to endure an ultrasound if they get pregnant and want an abortion? Shame!

Many dozens, if not hundreds of the patients I worked with (I am a retired psychiatric social worker) over the years were incest victims.

Do you really expect girls who are depressed, may be living with an abuser, are often suicidal, often engaging in a wide variety of acts of self-harm to now have an ultra-sound and identify the baby parts?

Did you know that a young girl whose father has been ramming his penis down her throat and up her vagina since she was 10 years old may have a "gagging" sensation every time she is anxious for the rest of her life? She may now be 18 and taking a number of psychiatric medications - and, you want to put another road block in her way to getting an abortion should she get pregnant? Shame!

I hope you are aware that women also have abortions for a wide variety of medical, personal, social and, yes, financial reasons. This may seem so trivial to well-fed folks. But, I have seen children going hungry and it is not something I want to see again.

There are a thousand things you are unaware of in your ignorant assumptions about selfish women who just want to pursue their careers or private lives. (Women with careers can afford children, BTW.)

Shame on anyone who votes to put roadblocks in the way of access to abortion.

Get out of your box and respect the rights of women.

With respect for the ability for women to make their own decisions,

Vivian Creekmore