Editor:

The Letters to the Editor section of your newspaper is read faithfully by me; usually to my amusement or education. Paragraph two of a letter by Bob Brechtel (Oct. 8) concerning the pending health care bill was neither.

Mr. Brechtel mentions 50 million abortions. Well, let's turn that around: 50 million women have had abortions since Roe v. Wade -- 50 million women who made that difficult choice due to incest, rape, extreme financial problems, abandonment by their partners, their own mental condition and myriad other causes. These 50 million are our daughters, our mothers, nieces, granddaughters, cousins, aunts, the girl next door, and ourselves. Mr. Brechtel has no right to judge them until he hears those 50 million biographies.

But the most shocking part of the letter was the implied statement that if these abortions had not taken place, there would be no shortage of aides to help the aging baby-boomers in the old folks homes, to empty the bedpans and wash the floors. Oh, and to help pay the government's bills.

What selfish arrogance -- to think his concerns today outweigh and negate what those 50 million women had to face yesterday.

JOANN H. MARCUS, Lander