To the Editor:

Your editorial, July 24, 2014 “Hail a state of feminine salvation,” states that the recent United States Supreme Court ruling is flawed science and women are burdened unequally by not having their unique health-care needs met.

As regards flawed science, the meaning of the word “conception” has been intentionally changed by pro-abortion forces in recent years to refer not to the fertilization of the ovum by the sperm, but instead to the implantation of the blastocyst (the newly developing human at about a week after fertilization) into the wall of the mother’s uterus. This change in definition has become so commonplace that it is reflected in standard medical reference book: conception is the implantation of the blastocyst. It is not synonymous with fertilization.

One example of this change in definition is the following, a quote from Planned Parenthood’s website: “According to general medical definitions of pregnancy that have been endorsed by many organizations including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the United States Department of Health and Human Services, pregnancy begins when a pre-embryo completes implantation into the lining of the uterus. Methods of contraception, including emergency contraception, prevent pregnancy by inhibiting ovulation, fertilization and/or implantation.”

So what’s the big deal?

Well, this means that now, if a preborn baby is purposely killed before implantation, what happens is not call abortion (the name it deserves), but rather contraception, or the “prevention of conception.”

Look at that Planned Parenthood quote again: It is admitting that some methods of contraception preven “pregnancy” by preventing “implantation”! If a baby is alive and ready to implant in her mother’s womb, isn’t the mother pregnant? (Yes!) Wouldn’t killing this baby be abortion? (Yes!) Well, not any more!

This shift in language is a public-relations move to cover up countless abortions. Beware of these new definitions of words when you hear someone talk about “preventing conception.” What they really mean includes abortion.

To the point that states that women are burdened unequally by not meeting their unique health-care needs: Abortion is not health car. Health care is about treatment and prevention of disease or injury, improving the health of a person.

Killing an unborn child is not health care.

Women cannot use contraception and abortion to take our right to practice the religion of our choice. Religious freedom is one of the United States founding principles, protected by the First Amendment and other federal laws.

Joanne Clough

Guilderland