In the State of the Union on Feb. 5, President Donald Trump decried “babies being ripped from their mothers’ wombs.”

On the same day, in your paper, Cal Thomas cited bio-ethicists who proposed the term “after-birth abortion” in place of infanticide to minimize the “moral status” of a fetus (“New York’s abortion law the fruit of a rotting culture,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 5).

Washington Post columnist Megan McCardle suggested that it is women “who didn’t bother to use contraception” who wait until their eighth month to have an abortion (“From the Muddle, debate on abortion looks extreme,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 6).

Puh-lease! Trump, Thomas and McCardle are simply carrying water for the extreme right-to-life movement that can hardly wait for Roe v. Wade to be overturned.

Late-term abortions comprise about 1 percent of all abortions and are usually done under heartbreaking circumstances.

A number of severe fetal abnormalities may be discovered only late in a pregnancy; young girls with developmental or physical disabilities may be victims of incest or sexual assault.

These and other reasons are the hard truths about why we must ensure that late-term abortions remain legal.

Melinda Wood

Manoa

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