There is a false narrative

I appreciate the Journal editor giving me a chance to respond after being cited in a letter to the editor last week implying I had false motives and was trying to deceive people. But what the letter writer failed to address was the bulk of my comments about what the Nov. 8 election is truly all about. There is a false narrative that the main issue for Democrats is maintaining legal access to safe abortion and that the main issue for Republicans is the economy. But that is a false divide. There is a huge economic cost to individuals, families and businesses if voters elect the current slate of Republicans, no matter how much those candidates now try to soften their language about their earlier stated goal of banning abortion.

Minnesota women have historically been among the top in the nation in the number of them who participate in the labor workforce. If employees and their partners are forced by law to complete unwanted pregnancies, there is no denying the fact that businesses large and small will bear the costs with their employees for more prenatal care, more treatment of pregnancy complications, unwanted hospitalizations for labor and delivery (including more C-sections), intensive care of frail newborns, and time away from work to care for ill children. That is if parents can even maintain their jobs at all after politicians have decided for them that every unintended pregnancy must now be completed, even by force of law.

Banning abortion is not a separate issue from the economy. Banning abortion would have huge impacts on not only women, but on their partners and employers and communities. Please do not let this happen. Eileen Weber Hastings