Letters to the Editor

Letter: Kelly comment insulting to women

"Birth control is for people who don't necessarily want to act responsibly," says Sen. Pete Kelly in his interview with the Daily News on Friday. This comment is insulting to the majority of adult women in this country.

I respect Sen. Kelly's desire to fight FASD in Alaska, but spending millions to have free pregnancy tests available at the bars is like arriving with the water trucks after the house has burned down; it's too late. If a woman is pregnant and has already been drinking at the bar, the FASD damage is already done. However, preventing un-planned, unexpected pregnancies with birth control will make a difference in reducing the occurrence of FASD and will save the state millions of dollars.

A marketing campaign to educate the public about FASD can certainly help, but in a state with the highest per capita rates of rape and domestic violence, we need to be encouraging more young women to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies through the use of birth control, not less.

— Anne Adasiak-Andrew

Anchorage

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