Roe v COVID 

Editor:

As I perused the June 30 edition of the NCJ, "After Roe," certain phrases assailed me with their irony. I noted: "... those who believe in individual freedom ...," "... if you think we should have self-determination over our own bodies ...," "... the future of our inalienable rights hangs in the balance ...," "government should not be regulating our bodies ...," and "bodily autonomy is a right."

Where have these authors and protestors been? For over two years now, individual freedom and bodily autonomy have been under a grave assault. Our ability to move and even breathe freely was severely curtailed by lockdown measures. A brand new type of vaccine has been foisted upon all of us, and pushed with an extreme degree of ugly coercion.

The COVID-19 mandates were, and remain, the most serious abrogation of freedom and bodily autonomy that we have been subjected to in our lifetime. COVID vaccine mandates sadistically forced many to submit their bodies to an unwanted medical procedure, in order to retain their employment, and thus their ability to procure food and housing, for themselves and their family. 

Who was it that took the lead in this coercion? It was Democrats, progressives and other left leaning people. I was shocked to witness many people, who profess to abhor discrimination, embrace their own brand of bigotry, and start to vilify, bully and dehumanize those who stood up for freedom and bodily autonomy, as well as those who made a different medical decision than their own.

I was horrified to see the Democratic party, which I once considered the "lesser of two evils," reject freedom and equality, and embrace authoritarianism and medical tyranny. This mad rush towards totalitarianism threatens the freedom and bodily autonomy of each and every one of us.

Amy Gustin, Ettersburg