LD 1619, An Act to Improve Maine’s Reproductive Privacy Laws, “… removes the criminal penalties for performing an abortion …” and is bad public policy that ought not to pass.

When society doesn’t value life from conception, it also doesn’t value life once it’s born. After all, what’s the difference between a baby living in its mother’s womb and one living outside of it? Neither can survive without support.

If this bill passes, the next step could be to legalize the killing of children who were born but are not wanted for whatever reason. If we don’t want to live in a society that kills its children outside of the womb, why would we want to legalize the killing for any reason without penalty of those children before they’re born?

Our government needs to find solutions that address the issues causing people to seek abortion in the first place. Every life, whether in the womb or outside of it, has inherent dignity that is worth preserving.

Maine’s slogan is “the way life should be,” but this bill will take away the chance at life. Let’s make Maine a haven for those seeking to enjoy and defend life and liberty like it says in the Maine Constitution — which every Maine legislator swore an oath to support — and not a place that seeks to promote the culture of death.

David Bouffard, Auburn