[madprof98]

No matter how much our revulsion at terrorism from abroad draws us together, there are real and deep divisions among us here, and we are going to have to keep addressing those too.

[curmudgeonII]

Sounds like the daughter has more moral integrity than the mother and Abby put together. And good for the uncle while I'm at it.

[Starrling]

What actually caused the chasm is the daughter's moral stand. Mom needs to quit blaming the uncle.

[steenkeenbadges]

"Explain that you are not in favor of killing babies, but that you feel it is important for a woman to have the right to choose. "

To choose what? The uncle got it right and the Mom's upset because she can't explain it away with slick political doubletalk. Kids can see right through to the real issues.

[GhostSoldier]

Her uncle thinks the way he does, and you love him in spite of it.

How generous of her......

[Artist]

This Dear Abby is for real. My jaw hit the floor on this one.

[11th Earl of Mar]

I think Mom is just upset that she is will not be able to indoctrinate the child as easily as she thought possible.

And if Mom is pro-choice, will she allow her daughter to choose a different position?

[SamAdams76]

Why bother with this silly column? The letters are heavily edited, if not faked altogether and the "touchy-feely" responses are always predictable and from the liberal side of the fence. You could probably program a computer to generate this column.

[Mamzelle]

Notice what is NOT mentioned in this story? There's no Daddy in the picture. That might explain why the daughter worries about abortion, since she could be seen as "inconvenient" herself.

[TexRef]

...I was so shocked I hardly knew how to defend myself.

That's because the murder of babies is indefensible.

Interesting how the innocent children understand that there is no such thing as a "fetus" -- it is a baby!

[Gil4]

Explain that you are not in favor of killing babies, but that you feel it is important for a woman to have the right to choose to kill babies

Hey, it was implied anyway. I guess twelve year olds can't rationalize as well as adults.

[KSCITYBOY]

Mom's a stupid selfish person. I'll adopt that kid any day.

[Right_Wing_Mole_In_Seattle]

I forgot about the subject until we were on the way home and my daughter asked me how I could think that killing a little baby was OK.

Out of the mouth of babes...

Stay strong kid.

[SAMWolf]

"Explain that you are not in favor of killing babies, but that you feel it is important for a woman to have the right to choose...to kill her baby. "

Yeah, that will clear up the issue Abby!

[workerbee]

As solidly pro-life as I am, I think the uncle was out of line.

The girl is 11 yr. old and as abhorrent as we find her mother's beliefs about "choice", it is not right (at that age) to undermine her relationship with her mother. IMO, it would have more appropriate for the uncle to state simply that he disagreed with Gore on the abortion issue. Anything beyond that should have been discussed with the mother beforehand.

I would be just as angry if the situation was reversed, and someone had told my 11 yr. old child that they voted against Bush because "he hates women and wants them to be oppressed by men."

Flame if you want, but I'm going off-line for a while.

[thingumbob]

Good for the child!...Children always see the world in simple terms...and yes the child does have more moral integrity than the parent.

[Joe Brower]

Let's face it: "Dear Abby" sucks.

And as for inflammatory answer to her question, how about an "inflammatory question"? I've popped this on people who present abortion as an option to be take with no more thought than what to have for breakfast:

How would you feel if your mother had chosen to abort YOU?

[Redcloak]

What a dipstick. There's a reason the daughter is "distant". Mommy just told her "I have the right to kill you." What other reaction was she expecting?

[hopespringseternal]

DEAR DESTROYED MOTHER: Sit your daughter down and tell her that the subject of a woman's right to choose to kill a baby is a controversial one, and that it is OK if she disagrees with you about it as long as she never tells anyone. It's a topic about which everyone has to make up her (or his) own mind to support blindly. Her uncle thinks the way he does, and you love him in spite of it the fact that he is a misogynist barbarian.

Explain that you are not in favor of killing babies, but that you feel it is important for a woman to have the right to choose to kill a baby. Some women's lives have been saved because they were legally empowered to make that choiceto kill a baby with a doctor's help. It wasn't always the case. It used to be such acts were done under cover of darkness because they were considered shamefull.

Tell her that as she grows older, you want her to examine her reasons for feeling the way she does about this subject -- but you also want her to be open to different points of view, because there are more than one, and people have a right to their own opinions. It may not heal the breach your brother has caused, but it's a beginning.

And finally, I urge you to talk to your daughter's uncle about this entire situation. He could help a great deal by reinforcing what you have said -- and he should. He was out of line from the beginning for having given your daughter his inflammatory strait answer to her question.

[Critter]

Three cheers for the daughter!

Ask ANY 10 or 11 year old if they think it's ok for a mother to kill her baby in her belly, and you'll get the same reaction.

[FreePaul]

What can I do?

Dear Mother: Just say to your daughter "Is this any way to show your gratitude for not killing you when I could?" That ought to smooth things over.