Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Sheet Music (1974).

Regarding the editorial "Reducing abortion rates" (Oct. 9):

While I applaud the 8th Circuit Court’s ruling allowing Planned Parenthood to expand abortion access and I am glad that pro-choice activists are continuing to help women prevent unintended pregnancies through better methods of birth control and improved sex education, President Donald Trump’s decision to roll back the birth control mandate does just the opposite.

Simply put, all women deserve access to comprehensive birth control, without a copay, no matter where they work. President Trump’s actions have just made it increasingly difficult for women to access the care they need. Denial of essential health coverage based on an employer’s religious or moral beliefs is yet another attack on reproductive freedom in this country.

The most effective way to reduce unintended pregnancy is through removing barriers to highly effective birth control. Contraceptive choice makes that possible, but when you put women’s health in the hands of their employers, schools or insurance companies, it puts million of lives at risk.

The new mandate is part of a concerning trend in the Trump administration and Republican leadership in Congress attempting to strip away women’s rights. The fact that we’re still having this debate in 2017 just reaffirms how far the clock has been set back in terms of reproductive justice. We have to do better. Women deserve better.

Joy Kudia • St. Louis

Very proud of my Executive Order which will allow greatly expanded access and far lower costs for HealthCare. Millions of people benefit!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2017

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Live 1980/86 (1988).

Here.

Here.

There appears to be a competition to aptly describe the persona of the man who happens to be 45th president of the United States. His own secretary of state chose the word “moron.” No less a conservative luminary than columnist George F. Will called him a “bloviating ignoramus.” Like other prolific efforts to characterize the buffoonery that constitutes Donald Trump, they are doomed to failure. They represent attempts at relieving frustration at being unable to abide or cope with a totally unique and discombobulating phenomenon: Mr. Trump has executed the ultimate con of actually becoming president of the United States.

Inauguration was the ultimate goal and validating factor for his particular form of egotism. And he luxuriates in the comfort of knowing he is on “top of the world” for four years. What he says and does, no matter how juvenile or unsavory, is “presidential.” He has no real interest in governing. He is reveling in a form of insouciant yo-yo playing since the game is already won.

But underlying it all is the fact that Mr. Trump not only has but is a “nuclear weapon.” And like Kim Jong Un and North Korea, he can’t be destroyed and is impervious to verbal attacks, however accurate. He can only be contained.

There remains only a patient resistance by principled and rational people, both within the corridors of power and those of us who had the common sense to recognize the perpetrating of a fraud. Prayer also might be a way of coping for those who believe in its efficacy.

ROBERT JEDRZEJEWSKI

Tarentum

ObamaCare is a broken mess. Piece by piece we will now begin the process of giving America the great HealthCare it deserves!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2017

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