It's surely true that choosing to end an unwanted pregnancy is no easy decision, as Ross Douthat wrote Jan. 4.
But it's worth remembering that nature itself is profligate in this regard.
The National Institutes of Health estimate that more than half of all conceptions end in spontaneous abortion before a woman knows that she's pregnant.
About 15 to 20 percent of known pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion (before the 20th week of gestation) or miscarriages (after the 20th week). The failure of conception to result in a live birth is a common and natural event.
There's no reason why human aspiration and necessity shouldn't also be a factor in determining whether or not a particular pregnancy is brought to term by potential parents.
We don't hesitate to intervene drastically in the normal biological process in the service of achieving or sustaining conception when a child is desired. It's equally legitimate to intervene when a child is not intended.
THE REV. KENDYL GIBBONS, ST. LOUIS PARK
