Since everybody is entitled to his opinion, let me say how tired I am of men telling women what real feminism is, and what they don't have a right to do with their own bodies. I refer to Bob Austenfeld's Sept. 25 letter, "Right to life has priority."
It's entirely appropriate that after trashing the "worn out feminism" of liberals like Gloria Steinem, Austenfeld sees in Sarah Palin the embodiment of "real" feminism. After watching Palin's interview with Charles Gibson of ABC-TV last month, I don't think Palin is in Steinem's league at all.
Not only did Palin not know what Gibson was talking about when asked about the Bush doctrine (America's right to pre-emptive military strikes), she also would not admit this. Instead, she tried to tiptoe around her ignorance with something like "And what aspect of the doctrine are you referring to?" Palin tried to obfuscate her ignorance. Honesty would have been the better policy, but everything that has come out since suggests that Palin is no disciple of Benjamin Franklin.
As for Austenfeld's insistence on a fetus's right to be born even against the mother's wishes, there is the question of rape. If the fetus has the same status as an already-born and independent child, then women who are pregnant through rape have no right to abortion. Except to protect a woman's health (an unusual case), abortion would still be murder. Palin clearly opposes abortion even in the case of rape.