May 4, 2017 2 min read

I am, quite frankly, appalled that Congressman Tim Murphy thought it promoted civil discourse to share Peters Township Councilman David Ball’s April 28 letter to the editor to his official Facebook page.

I understand that when the president of the United States declares anyone who is against him to be his enemy, declares any negative news report to be fake, and dismisses and degrades and insults anyone who stands in his path, his Republican counterparts may think that this kind of behavior is an acceptable way to treat people who have differing opinions.

I am a survivor of a congenital heart defect. I have had four open-heart surgeries, and will continue to require care for the rest of my life. My friend Judah is also a congenital heart defect survivor. He went into cardiac arrest for 45 minutes on the operating table, and spent the first years of his life with a tracheoctomy. He’s now 4. Whenever a mother with a child with a congenital heart defects asks a Republican about health insurance, the response is always, “Oh, don’t worry, health insurance will be covered.”

Those children grow up to be adults.

I went to the April 19 town hall meeting in Bethel Park to ask about health insurance coverage for people like me, with pre-existing conditions.

It’s a shame that President Trump has now made it acceptable for Ball and Murphy to paint me as a low-information, far-left constituent with unreasonable expectations.

I’ve spent my entire life being brave. Bullying and gaslighting from Ball and Murphy aren’t going to intimidate me into silence.

Lynne Hughes

Pittsburgh