I worry a great deal about these new abortion laws that will leave women of childbearing age at the mercy of butcher abortionists.

When a girl or woman is determined, she will get what she wants, even if it kills her. My mother was a nurse in the 1950s, and what I am saying is the truth.

So I would like to propose a bill that would take care of abortion right at the source of the problem. As no one likes abortion, and as making it illegal only drives the problem underground (where rich women fly to places to get safe abortions, and poor women are forced into the back alley) and as the government thinks it has the right to tell a person what to do with her body, and as women are more likely to die in childbirth or in botched abortions than are men from botched vasectomies, I propose we write a law making it mandatory for all males over the age of 12 and under the age of 85 submit to government-sanctioned vasectomies (which are, in most cases, reversible when a man is ready to become a father).

This law would nip the abortion problem right where it should be nipped. And no one has to die to make a point about the sanctity of life.

It would only entail a minor operation and a minor sacrifice by males. It would express real commitment by our male lawmakers that they are serious about solving the abortion issue, and that they are willing to do their part in solving the issue.

This is how we can stop all abortions without killing anyone.

Lori Shields, Salt Lake City