People should use contraceptives

I would like to address Marc Gretencord's March 29 letter and his views on our obligation to bear children. The greatest injustice anyone can achieve is to bring an unwanted child into the world. By taking the initiative of using contraception, people can control when or if they want to conceive. It is easy to make babies and using birth control does not mean that will never happen. My parents used birth control until they were financially stable enough to support both themselves and their future children. I grew up loved and provided for and am immensely grateful that they chose to wait to conceive until they could properly take care of me.

Conversely, if a mother wants to terminate her pregnancy, she obviously does not want to have that baby. If that child is born, it will not be adequately loved and supported. That mother had sex for pleasure, not for the purpose of conceiving a child, and she has the right to have an abortion if she chooses to.

Sex for pleasure is not a new idea, and neither are STDs or single-parent families. Children growing up in an environment where contraception, STDs and abortion are comfortable conversation topics will learn at an early age how to make appropriate decisions when the time comes. Lust for sex is a much more deeply ingrained impulse than the parental instinct, and since the onset of puberty comes long before anyone can responsibly bear children, contraception must be an immutable quality of sex until you are ready to conceive.

No one should be forced to have children. Simply having the ability to reproduce does not give you an obligation to do so. Think before you act; practice safe sex and don't let anyone control women's right to choose the fate of their pregnancies.

Nicholas John

Sophomore, School of Sciences

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