One couldn’t help noticing the two-page ad placed in Jan. 22’s Herald by the usual anti-abortion suspects, with pictures of darling live babies presuming to represent the aborted unborn. While not an expert on the Herald advertising rates, my guess is that someone must have shelled ca. $10,000 for this heart-wrenching display of care and compassion.

Their concern for the oh-so-cute unborn would be a tad more convincing if it were accompanied by a like concern for poor families, for single mothers and for all those undeserving “others” who cannot afford contraception, prenatal care or food for their unplanned babies; or are not educated enough to know their options in our vast, complex society.

There is a large population in this glorious country who are just not visible enough or not deserving enough for our anti-abortion activists and politicians to vote for programs that might help lift them out of poverty. Of the many ways that one might choose to express one’s concern for human life, this two-page display is one of the most insulting I’ve ever seen.

If you preach the sacredness of life, you must be prepared to share your wealth with the less-fortunate others. And yes, that means higher taxes and other offensive “socialist” measures. Otherwise, your caring boils down to the traditional observation that the poor are equally free as the rest of us to sleep under the bridge.

Tom Givon

Ignacio