To the editor: Pandemic most important time to put life 1st
Why has a health issue become so partisan?
Sun, 24 May 2020 04:00:00 GMT
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The words of one of the state’s leading anti-abortion senators, Peggy Lehner, in Thursday’s paper (“Ohio Senate comes to defense of Dr. Amy Acton; judge earlier rules she overstepped authority”) were a refreshing eye opener.
In defending Dr. Amy Acton’s stay-at-home orders, she said, “It’s just really confusing me ... that personal liberty should be put ahead of life, because for years I and many of the sponsors of Senate Bill 1 and 311 have said we must put life first over and above personal liberty of any kind.”
This was exactly what I have been wondering all along as I read about and watch the protesters with their fight to reopen Ohio.
I’ve wondered why the number of cases and possible COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes and assisted living centers have not been completely reported. How many seniors have died, in the name of keeping these businesses viable? What about the alarming number of those in our prison systems that have contracted this virus; the numbers of those who have died? The disproportionate number of minorities that are affected and dying from this pandemic? Where is this sanctity-of-life stance that the Republicans have stood on forever in all of this?
Such juxtaposition by those seeking their personal “freedom” of getting their roots dyed or doggie’s nails trimmed. Let’s all crowd together, shoulder to shoulder, for those “God-given freedoms” to have that drink at the bar. Let’s refuse to wear those masks as it imposes upon your constitutional rights. Who would have ever imagined that a pandemic would become so partisan?
Thank you to Senator Lehner for sticking to her beliefs and not caving in to businesses and a small minority of very vocal constituents.
CATHY WEYGANDT
Findlay