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Extremist Epithet Carelessly Applied to Alito
To the Editor:
How tiresome it’s getting seeing the epithet extremist carelessly tossed about. Judy Allen’s letter in last week’s PCN&R is a case point. She credits “fringe extremist groups” for President Bush’s nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Alito, it seems, horror of horrors, upheld a law requiring a woman to notify her husband before she had an abortion. Is this really an extremist position?
The law in question, contrary to what Allen stated, not only excused this requirement in cases where the husband was abusive of his wife, but also when another man was the father of the child and when the health of the mother was in danger. It’s also worth adding that the law did not require the woman to get her husband’s permission, only that she certify he was notified of her intent. This law cannot in any way be described as extremist.
Some years ago noted abortion advocate Faye Wattleton commissioned a poll on women’s attitudes toward abortion and found that fully 70% favor stricter limits on abortion than are in place today. Are all these 70% of women extremists? Are all these women opposed to women’s rights? These are absurd questions, but this is what July Allen and her ilk would have us believe.
It’s safe to say these days that when you hear someone hurl the epithet extremist at another they are really describing themselves.
Peter McFadden
Cold Spring
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