Letters: Preventing tragedy | Woman’s decision | Reforming Court | Climate change | Life’s beginning | Pressure for Big Lie

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Probe may bring justice,prevent future Sophias

Those who read every word of “Losing Sophia” (Page A1, June 26) have to have been impacted and will be for some time.

Because it’s a horror story that’s not supposed to happen in America the beautiful, land of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But, unfortunately, it is – more and more.

Thank you Mercury News and writer Maggie Angst for shining light on what journalism can and should show us. And thank you, Bay Area News Group for staying with it – for rooting out the extreme negligence that let this happen.

Alameda County’s Department of Children and Family Services has failed. Hopefully, aggressive investigation – and justice – can help prevent it from happening again, from losing any more Sophias.

Dan DipperyMenlo Park

The decision to abortshould be a woman’s

In response to the letter June 29 from Craig Carpenter (“Roe decision returned power to the people,” Page A6), you said the Supreme Court decision reversing Roe is good because it returns the right to decide about abortions to the states to let the people decide.

The only person who should decide whether a woman may have an abortion is the woman who is pregnant in consultation with her doctor and anyone else she chooses to involve. It should certainly not be made by a group of politicians. Most affected will be poor women in states where abortion will be banned and Medicaid was not expanded.

How quickly Republicans forget about their hysteria around the Affordable Care Act and how the government was going to come between them and their doctors.

Sharon JacksonSan Jose

Recent rulings callfor reforming court

Recent decisions of the Supreme Court on guns, abortion and the environment show that this court is a menace to the health and safety of Americans.

So long as the federal judiciary is controlled by right-wing ideologues, we can expect that this court will invalidate any meaningful legislation on gun violence, climate disruption, homelessness or any of the very serious threats that we face.

We must beseech our elected representatives to increase the number of justices on the court and limit their terms so that the power of these extremists is diluted.

William KirkpatrickSan Jose

Push for passageof reconciliation bill

Re. “If Biden fails on climate, it’s a white flag for planet” (Page A7, June 23):

Thanks for this update on the reconciliation bill, which still holds hope for Congress to address climate issues.

San Jose endures record temperatures, and the Arctic Circle has even reached 100 degrees. In 2021, more than 7.1 million acres of U.S. forests burned, and wildfires consumed over 2.5 million acres in California.

Congress must address the rising costs of climate change — costs in dollars, but also in lives and livelihoods destroyed by wildfire and severe weather events. Americans favor investing in the future of our climate; a survey by Ipsos/Reuters shows 66% support clean energy tax credits and incentives.

Let’s call on members of Congress — Sens. Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein, Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Anna Eshoo, Jimmy Pannetta, and Ro Khanna — to support a swift passage of the reconciliation package with strong environmental provisions.

Anna KosterSan Jose

Guessing at start oflife is shot in the dark

Liberals presume to know when life begins. Liberals criticize conservatives’ assertion that the unborn “zygote” or “fetus” is life, that it lacks scientific support.

Has science conclusively proven when life begins? If one cannot prove it one way or the other, isn’t the more logical position to take: “When in doubt, choose the safe position”?

To illustrate this, no one in his right mind would say, “I may not hit someone when I open fire in a darkened theatre, so it is OK to shoot.”

David NgSaratoga

Hearing revealed effortto reiterate the Big Lie

The June 23 hearing by the Senate Committee on the Jan. 6 insurrection contained a bit of gallows humor — and more damaging evidence that former President Trump was intentionally lying about claims of voter fraud. (“Former officials detail Trump push to coerce DOJ,” Page A1, June 24)

But this gaff was overshadowed by the report that Trump told the acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to “just say the election was corrupt — and let the Republicans in Congress handle the rest.” It showed Trump had no evidence of fraud. He was just trying to get another person to reiterate his Big Lie.

Debbie MytelsPalo Alto