LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: AMENDMENT NEEDED TO PROTECT HUMAN LIFE

To the editor:

In answer to the Speak Out caller who said that he hated to disillusion me about impeaching the Supreme Court justices: Well, you never know. They say that the next man elected president will have the opportunity to appoint several new justices. I believe that, but only as long as the next president is a Democrat. Although several of the justices are really tired of the routine and have indicated a desire to retire, I really don't think that even one of them will budge as long as we have a Republican president who is vowing to only nominate pro-life justices. Besides, anyone who is nominated has to be approved by the U.S. Senate. The chances of pro-life justices making it to the bench are practically nil.

Even if the Supreme Court were to make all abortions illegal tomorrow, all that would do is de-federalize legalization of abortion. It would no longer be a federal problem. It would remain legal in all 50 states under the state constitutions. Some states would, no doubt, then make abortion illegal, but we would be left with a patchwork of states, some with legal abortions and some without a law legalizing abortion. You would end up with some states making a lot of money because of legal abortions and the have-not states with less money. You would have people running across state lines to have abortions.

The only way now to assure that Roe vs. Wade would be made illegal throughout all of the United States would be to have a Human Life Amendment attached to our U.S. Constitution. A Human Life Amendment would establish that all human life begins at the moment of conception and ends only with a natural death. Once you establish that the unborn are people from conception, they would be protected under the law.

CHRISTINE E. STEPHENS

Cape Girardeau, Mo.