Gloria Burnell’s letter of Nov. 11, “Abortion account fell short,” is profoundly inaccurate. Ms. Burnell writes “… abortion had always been illegal.” The history of the United States, however, belies that.

Historian Leslie Reagan, who has written authoritatively about the subject, points out that abortion was openly a part of life in the 19th century. Newspapers carried advertisements for abortifacient drugs, which were sold by doctors, pharmacists and through the mail. Practitioners publicly offered their services to terminate pregnancies as well. It was not until 1869, Professor Reagan writes – at about the same time that abortion became politicized in this country – that even the Catholic Church fully condemned the procedure.

Recent Supreme Court decisions acknowledged the legality of abortion after it had been made illegal in many – although not all – states. Roe v. Wade (1973) deemed abortion a constitutional right. That decision stood until 2022, when Dobbs v. Jackson rescinded that right and instead ceded responsibility to individual states for regulating abortion. The Dobbs Court did not, however, ban it.

Ms. Burnell states that the 14th Amendment “… is meant to offer protection for the lives of all Americans at every stage of human development.” No constitutional text supports this contention. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, after considering the issue, wrote: “the word ‘person,’ as used in the 14th Amendment, does not include the unborn.” If Ms. Burnell has superseding legal authority that supports “fetal personhood,” she should have provided it.

Ellen Murphy
Portland