I am writing in response to the recent letters published by the Bangor Daily News from readers who would deny women the right to reproductive freedom. The choice to have an abortion should remain for women a personal and private decision with no legislative restrictions on age or social/economic status.

To restrict abortion for women, for whatever reason, would open the doors for anti-civil rights groups to increasingly intimidate women, especially those most vulnerable — the young and poor. I cannot stress enough that violence and discrimination against women go hand in hand with restrictive abortion legislation. Such discrimination must never be sanctioned by the law. The anti-choice fanatics have demonstrated this over and over through bombing of abortion clinics, public humiliation of women using bullhorns outside their homes, anonymous violent threats by mail or phone, and coercive “counseling” in school and clinic settings. The list goes on and on.

I ask the majority of Maine citizens, both men and women, who support a woman’s reprodutive right to choose to make your views known on this issue. I ask you, as voters, to contact your legislative representatives and ask them to actively secure the rights of women on this issue by introducing or supporting legislation that is pro-choice without compromise. Sharon H. Bryant Orono