Letters

I would like to respond to the coward who mailed my husband and me an anonymous letter accusing us of being heinous murderers of our grandchildren because we support reproductive freedom for our daughters.

It is a sad commentary that people today feel entitled to spew ugly and patronizing rhetoric to their neighbors without taking the time to understand their stories.

Let me assure you: We do not support killing our grandchildren. There have been a lot of ridiculous accusations thrown out by Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans that Democrats support abortion after a fetus is born. Once born, a fetus is no longer a fetus — it is a child. Killing children is not abortion; it is murder. Democrats, including us, do not support murdering children.

There is no consensus on when life begins prior to birth. If your religious beliefs inform you that life begins at conception, then don’t have an abortion. But we are Jewish, and our religion informs us that life begins when a fetus takes its first breath outside of the mother’s womb. We respect your religious beliefs, but you must also respect ours.

Our country’s founding fathers believed in freedom from religious tyranny. That is why they rejected the establishment of a state religion and why our Constitution requires separation of church and state.

Our religion also requires that we prioritize the life of the mother. We do not believe in sacrificing our daughters by forcing them to carry life-threatening pregnancies.

Our daughter was diagnosed with cancer when she was nine weeks pregnant with her third child. She and her husband wanted this child and delayed starting chemotherapy for a month to protect the fetus. But as our daughter got progressively sicker, her doctor advised her that she must terminate her pregnancy to save her life.

Did we want our eighth grandchild? Very much. We still mourn its passing. But did we want to risk losing our daughter? Absolutely not.

We were lucky that our daughter lives in New York, a state that provides women with choice. Our daughter is in remission, thanks to the medical advice she received from doctors, not politicians. But other daughters will not be so lucky.

According to health experts, maternal and infant mortality likely will double in states that ban access to abortion. Already, in Georgia, a state medical commission ruled the deaths of two women who could not access timely abortion care “preventable.”

And this is just the beginning. According to Project 2025, Republicans plan to institute a federal ban on abortion and IVF. Is this the future we want for our daughters? No.

That’s why, on November 5, we will be voting for Democrats across the board.

Ron and Andrea Klausner

Water Mill

Andrea Klausner is vice chair of the Southampton Democratic Committee — Ed.