Letters to the Editor
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‘On Adoption, Birth Rates, and Madonna’
Alicia Colon seems to be taking lessons from Ann Coulter. After reading, “On Adoption, Birth Rates, and Madonna” I was dismayed by her willingness to vilify Choices Women’s Medical Center’s Merle Hoffman.
It should never be taken for granted that people such as Ms. Hoffman bravely withstand anti-abortion attacks in order to provide reproductive health care. Those attacks have escalated to where eight abortion providers and their staff have been murdered to date.
Ms. Hoffman is a brilliant woman who could have chosen from a myriad of careers. Instead she has devoted her life to the concept that women must be free to access safe reproductive medical care.
People who believe in the right to birth control and abortion should stand by her because she has courageously stood up for their rights. She has done this despite being demonized by the Catholic Church and anti-abortion advocates. She has saved the lives of countless women because of her unwillingness to be bullied.
It is moral to subscribe to the belief that children should be wanted, loved, and provided for. More than 14 million children go to bed hungry in our nation each night.
Wouldn’t it be grand if all of the money poured into the fight against abortion and birth control went to feed them? After all, Ms. Colon did say ” … loving babies is a very good and healthy thing for our country.”
JONI BAIRD
Co-Director
Pro-Choice League, Inc.
Huntington, N.Y.
‘On Adoption, Birth Rates, and Madonna’
I have known Merle Hoffman for over a quarter of a century. She is a dedicated clinic provider and is an exemplary mother. I have visited her and her daughter in their home and know that Merle’s humanitarianism, wisdom, and tremendous courage will embue her with those same qualities.
BILL BAIRD
Huntington, N.Y.
‘Aluminum Bats May Go Way of Trans Fat’
Your report that the City Council is poised to ban aluminum bats from high school games [New York, October 19, 2006] states that it had been rejected by the Council in 2001 and had been opposed by Youth Committee chairman Lew Fidler at the time. In fact, while the bill was not enacted in 2001, it was not rejected as no vote was taken then. I was the committee chairman. Council Member Fidler did not take office until 2002.
KEN FISHER
New York, N.Y.
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