Feedback: Personal convictions or moral values?

I completely agree with the stance of Nick Wallace in his opinion piece “The morality question” in the March 29 issue of the IDS.

Wallace says, “A conservative cry for an increase in moral values too often means the state is about to be used to impose the personal convictions of a powerful majority on dissenting minorities.”

Unfortunately, I see this statement reflected in conservative legislation that is currently working its way through the political system. An amendment to ban gay marriage passed both the Indiana Senate and the House of Representatives, and there is still more legislation that disregards the rights of those most affected by it.

As addressed previously by Wallace, there is legislation that will strip Planned Parenthood of its federal funding. The federal funding that Planned Parenthood receives is not used for abortions, but rather for a variety of low-income medical treatment.

Abortion is a well-known morally controversial issue, and while I hold my own opinion on the topic, I can also understand and respect the opinions of others. However, this legislation is not addressing the issue of abortion since federal funding is unrelated to abortions.

Instead, the existence of Planned Parenthood as a health care provider is at stake, which does not seem morally sound to me.

Another piece of legislation that resembles personal convictions more than moral values is an Indiana bill addressing illegal immigration matters. This legislation will require public documents to only be printed only in English, which will in turn limit the accessibility that non-English speaking people have to public documents. Since the United States does not have one national official language, this makes me question the importance of limiting public documents to one language. This same legislation could also be a gateway to racial profiling because it permits law enforcement to verify the immigration or citizenship status of individuals in certain situations.

What “morals” could these pieces of legislation be upholding? These few pieces of legislation seem to resemble the personal conviction of politicians more than the upkeep of moral values.

­— Brittany Levato