Gary Markfort
St. Cloud
Families are many and different.
On July 1, I was in Iowa at my last aunt’s funeral. I come from a big family of seven children. But my aunt had 14 children (all before Roe v. Wade), 32 grandchildren, 36 great-grandchildren, and nine great-great-grandchildren. most of them after Roe v. Wade. Add in my family and the other cousins etc. and it was quite the crowd. Out of curiosity, I asked some of my cousins why such huge families? Most replied “Oh we kept it down below mom’s.”
I was impressed at how little trauma was in their lives from childbirth. They all had the rights given to them by the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973. Some expressed worry about their daughters not having those same freedoms and were happy Minnesota is so close.
My mother gave birth to seven children, but two others died during pregnancy. The trauma of those two dead ones stayed with Mom and Dad all their lives. Mom heartily supported Roe v. Wade so her daughters would not go through what she did.
Now we have the Supreme Court’s “Dobbs Decision” that overturned Roe v. Wade. It is very lucky we live in Minnesota so our families have state-provided protection. However, that may not last long. Our Sixth District U.S Rep. Tom Emmer wants to make us Dobbs-compliant. We have seen how well that disaster works in other states!
It’s time for a change in Congress and we need to elect Jeanne Hendricks instead of Tom Emmer. Jeanne will work so all families again have the rights and freedoms to make decisions for themselves. Emmer should keep his nose out of Minnesota families’ medical decisions.