Fresno Bee readers sound off on Roe vs. Wade abortion ruling, Bullard High cellphone ban

Supreme Court’s hypocrisy display

I am a former clerk for a federal judge of the Eastern District of California and have practiced family law for 30 years. I was 40 when I got married, and it took me and my husband 2 1/2 years with my doctor through fertility drugs to have our incredible daughter, who is now 26. That is choice.

My sister-in-law who is a Japanese-American had to wait 11 years before marrying my white brother-in-law and Loving came down. They have two adult daughters. That is choice.

The fact that this Supreme Court stripped my daughter and their daughters of a fundamental right to reproductive health and right to privacy is outrageous. My maternal grandmother, who was born in Indiana in 1900, told horror stories about her friend's back-alley botched abortion. Under Roe, the number of abortions actually drop.

The justices ignored precedent, but they testified during their confirmation hearing, that precedent is sacrosanct. They conveniently ignored the constitutionality of Loving when overturning Roe. Some justices displayed immense hypocrisy when they denied American women sovereignty over their own bodies by the states, but struck down the state of New York to regulate guns, so the guns will kill more babies!

Elect politicians with common sense

When are we going to realize that we are electing politician who will vote against our beliefs?

Take Roe vs. Wade. Sixty percent-plus of the American people want to preserve Roe. Sensible gun control like forbidding AK-47s, background checks for everyone, making 21 the legal age to buy a gun — 60% + of the people are for these policies.

We do not want to do away with the Second Amendment, but at the same time, we do not want to make public schools, and other public spaces, become like military areas. We do not want the shooters to have more powerful firearms than the police. Are we going to give the teachers AK 47s?

We don’t want SCOTUS to ban contraception.

We do not want to make voting more difficult.

We do not want politicians who lie to us and believe in idiotic conspiracy theories that have no factual basis.

We do not want politicians who don’t believe we are causing climate change.

And what do we do? We continue electing people who will do the exact opposite of what most of us want. And then we complain.

Wake up, people. Elect politicians that think and feel like you, and who will act on those common-sense beliefs.

Modify the cellphone ban

I am a student at Fresno State, and I have two younger siblings who will be attending Bullard High for the 2022-23 school year. Regarding Bullard High banning students from using their cellphones on campus: As an older sibling, I find it extremely impractical to expect teens to not have access to their cellphones, at least on their breaks and lunch. Students should be able to use their cellphones on breaks because phones are the new norm in communication, especially in their generation.

I agree that cellphones should be put away during class time, there should be a stricter policy in that case, for sure. Some students, such as my little sister, do not have all of her friends at the same school as she attends. As someone who is shy and struggles to make friends, she should be able to text her friends on launch break to feel more at ease.

On possible Bullard High cellphone ban

In a July 3 article, it is reported that Bullard High School wants to lock student cellphones in a magnetically locking phone pouches. While I do agree that students will not be glued to their phones in class, or that they would socialize more to one another, what would happen if another school shooting appears?

I would like to counter argue that students should be able to have their cellphones, but on silent mode only. When I was in school my mother had a heart attack but my phone was turned off, so my family couldn’t contact me, and had to contact the school to get to me, which took a while. I would also like to add that students should only use their phone on breaks, lunch, or emergencies.

Inflation and losing our minds

Regarding the Democrats’ plan to “fight inflation” one has to wonder, have we lost our minds?

What is inflation? Generally speakin, it is too many dollars chasing too few goods. Does that not mean that distributing billions of dollars in the coming weeks is pumping yet more dollars into an inflation bubble? Moreover, this benighted plan appears to assume that once inflation recedes, prices will come down. That is untrue because inflation affects every aspect of our economy — including wages — so it may abate, but prices, not very likely. This means that for a temporary “ money fix” we may get a larger inflation bubble. How does that help people long-term?

If we want to address inflation, how about addressing our supply chain issues? Much of what is imported into this country comes through ports in California that are in need of serious renovation — largely blocked by environmentalists. One could go on, but really, what’s the point? One more thing. We are not entitled to a budget surplus forever. With stock prices down and a looming recession, shouldn’t we be planning for a budget deficit a la pharaoh and Joseph in Genesis?

Measure C is well-founded

While I agree that Fresno could use work when it comes to public transportation, I disagree with your statement that the budget for Measure C should be modified and that policy makers are ignoring community needs.

You fail to acknowledge the benefits that road repair, construction, and maintenance provide to public transportation and the residents of Fresno. The construction of new roads and highways along with improvements of pre-existing ones alleviates traffic congestion as well as creates faster routes to navigate the city. This would improve the commute of anyone traveling by vehicle by shortening commute distances and travel time.

This relates to public transportation specifically — by repairing and paving new roads, more accessible and faster bus routes can be put into place. This will help the future of public transportation by allowing more bus routes, shorter intervals between buses, and the allocation of more funds to public transportation.

Therefore, policy makers’ decisions to allocate the majority of the budget of Measure C to these projects is acknowledging community needs and the budget should stay the same.

This story was originally published July 31, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Fresno Bee readers sound off on Roe vs. Wade abortion ruling, Bullard High cellphone ban."