Dear Editor,

In the 5th century B.C., a pagan physician, Hippocrates, developed a code of ethics for doctors that raised medical care from witchcraft and even killing the sick to the art of healing. Included in the original oath is a prohibition against abortion and euthanasia. In obstetrics, the physician has two patients – the mother and her unborn baby. Women have been deceived into thinking that once conception has occurred, they still have a “choice” as to whether they should give birth to that child or not. This deception has been perpetrated on them by both physicians and politicians.

The idea that you would neglect a newborn child who was struggling to live because she was not “wanted” or “planned” or because he has a disability is contrary to all that we should be as mothers, medical professionals and as human beings. The Born Alive Protection Act shows compassion for a newborn child, whom we have no right to neglect or actively kill. As politicians and physicians, we are called to provide care for the most vulnerable members of our nation who have no voice – the unborn and the newly born.

Kathleen M. Raviele MD FACOG

Atlanta