A recent letter to the editor is right, women do have all rights reserved whether and with whom they wish to have a family. That is why contraceptives and birth control devices and pills for both women and men have been invented, to do that very thing: give women a choice to have a child or not have a child.

The writer seems to be very intelligent yet her singleness of focus negates the common sense element of her intelligence. She doesn't comprehend the difference between preventing a pregnancy (contraception) and killing a child (abortion).

No one is trying to deny women the right to prevent pregnancy. Birth control is available at almost every gas station and certainly at every pharmacy. If you don't have the money for it, make the guy pay. If you decide not to use a contraceptive and get pregnant, don't compound your bad decisions with killing a human being.

Yes, as a Christian I believe that if the biblical principles of sex and marriage were adhered to, a majority of our social problems would be solved. Yes, I believe abstinence is the best policy. Yes, I believe chastity and morality should guide our lives, not hedonism. Yes, I believe abortion is murder, not birth control, but it is not an unpardonable sin.

Mike Darling

Killen