To the editor:

Isaac McPheeters’ letter (Journal-World, Nov. 19) regarding Leonard Pitts’ column on moral clarity is a textbook example of Pitts’ claim that those with compelling moral prescriptions damage the social fabric by arrogating decisions “unto the state under the guise of moral clarity.”

McPheeters is insistent that a fertilized egg is a human and demands the protection of state power over any right any woman may claim. Ten percent of all pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion. Under the proposed Mississippi law (defeated overwhelmingly) would a woman have criminal charges against her for this natural occurrence?

The moral clarity crowd wishes to bully us for our moral failings. We know what righteous fists are full of: censorship, prisons, torture and beatings. Mankind’s history has demonstrated that goodness does far more harm than good and that moralists are hanging judges. Moralists have sent untold millions to early graves. Moralists deny the legitimacy of a particular group, here women, over their choice, fertilized eggs (DNA blueprints without brains, organs or limbs). Can a fertilized egg now defined as a person get a gun permit or purchase property?

How about state support for these proposed parochial laws? If the state insists a woman carry an unknown rapist’s baby to term and support this baby to adulthood, then the state should also tax all male citizens to 1) support maternal health for the pregnant woman; 2) support efforts to reduce infant mortality; 3) educate and finance young mothers for the care of their babies; and 4) give these children educational and health support until they reach their majority.