Joe the plumber and Jane Roe

I WAS offended by John McCain's sarcastic comment in Wednesday's debate about the health of the woman. When McCain made those finger quotation marks around the word "health" while speaking about exceptions to the ban on late-term abortions in the case of the woman's life or health, I wanted to shout back at such arrogance.

He certainly wants to keep government out of Joe the plumber's way when it comes to his right to make his own business decisions, but he doesn't make that same claim for a woman when it comes to a horrible and very personal decision to end a late-term pregnancy when her own health is at risk. I assume this is because he considers Joe the plumber a sober judge of what is best for his business plans, while he deems women to be vacuous, silly creatures who would make thoughtless decisions on life-and-death matters, therefore requiring government control.

I believe that no matter what McCain said about his choice of Supreme Court nominees, the judges he would find competent would indeed try to overturn Roe v. Wade.

PAULA GRISAFI
Sudbury