Pastor Randy Leskovar (Sept. 10 issue) asserts that he will not vote for Obama because Obama supports a woman's right to choose whether or not to carry a fetus to full term. He asserts that there is a 50/50 chance it might be a human life, therefore, therefore terminating might be murder. He does not use that word, but it's what he's saying.

Perhaps the decision should be based on which candidate will support your right to religious freedom.

No one disagrees that a fetus is a living collection of tissues. We terminate lots of living collections of tissues in our bodies. Tonsils, appendices, cancers, fat. The determination of whether or not this particular collection of tissues is fully human is based on one's religious believe of when that fetus gets a soul. Your religion may argue that it's the moment of conception, or the moment the newborn takes its first breath. If you believe in predestination and a fetus is miscarried or aborted that soul was meant to die and the woman was meant to suffer the pain and the consequences. What you choose to believe is religious freedom and I would be wary of voting for a candidate who was going to enact laws or nominate judges who would force me to adopt their beliefs or suffer the consequences.

As a social issue, everyone would like to see the need for abortion eliminated, but social ills have never been eliminated by making them illegal. Need I mention prostitution, alcohol, drugs? Or homicide, for that matter.

I will pick a candidate who will allow me religious freedom. The McCain/Palin ticket is not looking good at this point.

Linda Maki

West Seattle