i am distressed by the death yesterday of bryon white, one of the supremes- appointed by JFK himself. he was one of the more liberal justices- and will surely be replaced by one of the more conservative people that W can pull out of his bag of people to whom he owes political favors. maybe ken lay? he's not doing anything these days. maybe ashcroft will volunteer for a lateral move from attorney general to supreme court. regardless of who is the replacement, the possibilities for right-wing agenda to prevail in the court is especially frightening. roe v wade may be 30 or so years old, but here are those who would take us back to the days of home-done abortions, or backstreet hack jobs. the book i am reading, living with cats, is an autobiographical piece about and by marge piercy, a poet, novelist and activit. she chronicaled her own home-done abortion in the 60's, from which she nearly bled to death. my husband's grandmother(melva may morning ernst) died of complications of an illegfal abortion, in a age when unmarried catholic women just didn't have babies. my mother-in-law once told me this tale, then later retracted it, but i believe that it is true. who would make up this kind of stuff about your own mother if it didn't have truth to it? i believe that life begins somewhere between conception and birth- when the fetus could live on its own if born at that moment. abortions are commonly done when the fetus is about the size of a thumbnail, and therefore i do not believe that we are dealing with life- only potential for life. i lost a baby to ectopic pregnancy somewhere before 12 weeks- there was nothing to bury and nothing to name- just lost potential that we mourned at the time and continue to mourn in our own ways. before 12 weeks, i believe that women have the right to choose whether to continue with this potential for life or to end it.