Every time I read an irrationally progressive editorial in your newspapers, I say to myself, “OK, your editorial board has reached the absolute limit of its excessively leftist bent!” But you really outdid yourselves by printing an opinion column Jan. 25 on the abortion issue — from a Planned Parenthood spokesperson, obviously — who claimed that abortion amounts to an “act of love” (“As Mississippi ruling looms, time to face hard truth about abortion access“).

Are you kidding me? A reasonable analogy to that outrageous statement would be like a rapist explaining that he subsequently murdered his victim as an act of compassion, so as to prevent her from having bad memories of the rape!

Oh, to be fair, the author did explain that abortion amounts to “an act of love” by “loving yourself enough to make a decision that’s best for you.” Label me intolerant if you will, but I think Planned Parenthood’s Nicole Clegg was really trying to smokescreen the true overriding motivation of narcissism that’s at the heart of most abortion-seeking clients of Planned Parenthood, not love!

Are there circumstances wherein abortion should be considered as a rational, permissible and socially acceptable option? I think so. But intentionally and violently ending the future life of a healthy, viable human being merely because the prospective mother — who ignores the responsibility of availing herself of readily available contraceptive options and then chooses abortion merely because the eventual belly bulge will make it hard to fit into the prom or party gown — amounts to what I feel future generations will judge to be an act of barbarism.

Dennis Tompkins

Litchfield