I am sorry that Carolyn Buck's mother's friend died as the result of an abortion (“Extreme abortion laws don’t value women’s lives,” May 21). From her description, it appears that the father of the child was the one suggesting the abortion. Making abortion legal has not stopped men from pressuring women to have abortions.
Even though maternal deaths from abortion are rarer now that abortion is legal, some women have died as the result of legal abortions. The death of any women as the result of an abortion is tragic. However, every "successful" abortion results in the death of a child. Aren't these deaths tragic also? Surely, we can find a way to help women with troubled pregnancies without resorting to abortion.
I realize that exceptions have to be made sometimes to save the life of the mother. From what I have read, Alabama's law includes this exception.
Anne McKnew, Pasadena