Letters to the Editor
nancyh
Published Letters: 159 Editor's Choice: 5
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Lisa and others
[Read the article: Falling for StandUpGirl.com]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have been pregnant three times: The first time, I had an abortion, the second I put my daughter up for adoption, the third pregnancy was deeply wanted by both my husband and me and produced our beautiful (now) 4 year old daughter. I have no regrets about any of these decisions. They were all the right CHOICE at the time.
Based on my experience and that of many friends who have had both planned and unplanned pregnancies, choice is key. Several friends were pressured by parents to put their children up for adoption, one to have an abortion, and one to have and keep the baby. Each of these women have been troubled by their decision.
When a woman (or ideally) two people plan and want a child, it is far easier to weather the ups and downs of parenting-and boy are there some downtimes, even with an easy kid. When, a woman chooses to put her child up for adoption, it is a gift (not quite the right word, but the best I can do) that is freely given. When a woman chooses abortion, it is because she is clear about her beliefs and has made the best decision she can based on those beliefs.
When a woman has no choice, parenthood can be a burden, adoption a huge and terrible loss, and abortion feels like a violation.
Limiting women's choices about how to deal with a pregnancy is a stupid way to deal with this issue. If anyone cares about women's mental and physical health (as opposed to wanting to control her behavior), then he or she should spend money on pregnancy prevention.
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Yep PhD too
[Read the article: Falling for StandUpGirl.com]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And speaking thereof, SUG should check out the work by another PhD.
BMJ. 2005 Dec 3;331(7528):1303. Epub 2005 Oct 28. Links
Depression and unwanted first pregnancy: longitudinal cohort study.Schmiege S, Russo NF.
Department of Psychology UCB 345, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0345, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the outcomes of an unwanted first pregnancy (abortion v live delivery) and risk of depression and to explain discrepancies with previous research that used the same dataset. DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: Nationally representative sample of US men and women aged 14-24 in 1979. PARTICIPANTS: 1247 women in the US national longitudinal survey of youth who aborted or delivered an unwanted first pregnancy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical cut-off and continuous scores on a 1992 measure of the Center for Epidemiological Studies depression scale. RESULTS: Terminating compared with delivering an unwanted first pregnancy was not directly related to risk of clinically significant depression (odds ratio 1.19, 95% confidence interval 0.85 to 1.66). No evidence was found of a relation between pregnancy outcome and depression in analyses of subgroups known to vary in under-reporting of abortion. In analyses of the characteristics of non-respondents, refusal to provide information on abortion did not explain the lack of detecting a relation between abortion and mental health. The abortion group had a significantly higher mean education and income and lower total family size, all of which were associated with a lower risk of depression. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence that choosing to terminate rather than deliver an unwanted first pregnancy puts women at higher risk of depression is inconclusive. Discrepancies between current findings and those of previous research using the same dataset primarily reflect differences in coding of a first pregnancy.
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Plan B out of stock
[Read the article: Take this survey about Plan B]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Motivatid by a similar article, I decided to check whether my local pharmacy housed within a chain grocery story (Dillons, owned by Krogers) sold Plan B. I checked. They do stock it, but were "out" at the moment-expecting to be restocked in a few days. Thankfully, this is not the only pharmacy in town (a mid sized college town). If it were, some young woman would be shit out of luck.
I have not repeated this experiment, but it might be worth the time and effort. Broadsheet readers, what do you say? Lets do an informal and unscientific survey of retailers who actually have Plan B in stock.
Lawrence KS, 0/1
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OTC
[Read the article: Take this survey about Plan B]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here is something I encountered when I asked about plan B. It may be over the counter in the sense that you do not need a prescription, but it is behind the counter in the sense that you have to ask for it.
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Brilliant idea!!!!!!
[Read the article: "When Women Rule the World"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hey this worked out SO WELL the last time, when it was the Stanford Prison Experiment.
http://www.zimbardo.com/zimbardo.html
Like any other form of gasseous material, stupidity will expand to fill available space
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this is only the tip of the iceberg
[Read the article: Creepy panties for the 'tweens on your list]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Go to the pre-teen section of Target, Kohls, Penneys-you name it and you will see PADDED BRAS for tweeners. I remember being 11, 12ish and for a padded bra, but marketers were not quite so crass 30 years ago, so I went to school flat-chested and child-like just like 75% of the rest of my classmates.
Good God, why would a parent with an ounce of sense buy that kind of shit for their daughters!
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eye rolls
[Read the article: Creepy panties for the 'tweens on your list]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It is only trivial if taken out of context. In other words, if this were found in a sea of Hello Kitty underwear and Geranimals clothing, it would simply be an oddity. However, when it is interpreted in the context of Bratz dolls, the mysteriously scrapped "Pussycat Doll" dolls, and padded bras for tweens, it starts to seem a little more sinister. I have a four year old girl and I see this crap on a regular basis.
Oh, and when a joke or phrase has multiple meanings (one of which is usually sexual) it is called a double entendre.