I believe that the fetal remains ordinance passed by the Seaford City Council, after being placed on the agenda by the mayor, is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt to try to chip away at women’s reproductive rights. This is why the state and the ACLU threatened to sue the city, and why the City Council later voted to “stay” enforcement of the ordinance. Further, the supposed promise of an anonymous donor to pay for any legal fees resulting from any lawsuits is beyond the pale. As Dan Cannon wrote in his letter last week, the Freedom of Information Act demands that this donor be publicly revealed. To do otherwise smacks of an obvious quid pro quo or backdoor dealings.

Whether you personally agree that a woman has a fundamental right to decide what happens inside her own body is apparently not germane to this ordinance. As the mayor and the three council members (all of whom are men, by the way) who voted for the ordinance clearly stated, the objective of the ordinance was not meant to curtail access to what is, at this writing, a legal medical procedure. If that is truly the case, then why were all the green-shirt-wearing so-called pro-life folks at the meeting cheering and clapping when the ordinance passed? 

 Why? Because it’s all a political smokescreen to try to force the state legislature to pass legislation restricting or eliminating reproductive choice when a teenage girl or a woman is faced with an unwanted, unintended pregnancy. Look at what has happened in Texas, and many other southern states. It could happen in Delaware, too.

To those who insist that all pregnancies must be brought to completion, I ask—why should anyone be legally required to relinquish control over her own body for nine months? I have personally counseled several friends against having an abortion…but, at the end of the day, I believe it should be an individual and personal choice.

Biology should never determine one’s destiny.

Susan Lamb

Seaford