An adage perhaps too literal
We're told any child born in the United States can grow up to be president.
Mr. Trump demonstrates the truth of that saying.
— Ken Flynn
Anchorage
Sen. Murkowski in the right on Planned Parenthood issue
We write you to express our support for the position recently taken by
Sen. Murkowski in standing with Planned Parenthood.
We are physicians who have seen what happens when patients don't have access to reproductive health care — an emergency physician who has diagnosed cancers that could have been prevented by a Pap smear, and a pediatrician who has spent far too many hours in the neonatal ICU seeing what happens without adequate prenatal care. We know what the human cost of defunding Planned Parenthood would be, and we refuse to let our patients suffer so that politicians can posture on camera. Sen. Murkowski has stood up for what is right; we applaud her and urge Sen. Sullivan and Rep. Young to follow her lead.
Do we care about decreasing the number of abortions in this country? If so, it's been shown many times that access to accurate, reliable information from a trusted source is essential to achieving that end. Every year,
1.5 million young people go to Planned Parenthood for reproductive health education, helping them avoid unintended pregnancies and reduce the number of abortions performed. In fact, roughly
one-third of the services the organization provides are for contraception. All told, their efforts prevent more than half a million unintended pregnancies every year.
This is the tip of the iceberg. As a pediatrician, Dr. Clay has seen patients age out of Medicaid and be left with nowhere to go for care; Planned Parenthood has been there. When a patient in the ER with a miscarriage has had nowhere to go for follow-up, Planned Parenthood has been there. When teens in the office and the ER have needed to know that they will always have a safe place to go for information and care, Planned Parenthood has been there.
We thank Sen. Murkowski for doing what is best for her constituents, and urge to her to stand firm on this issue.
— Patricia Clay, MD, MPH, FAAP
Daniel Mindlin, MD
Anchorage
Planned Parenthood needed
I agree with Sen. Murkowski that Planned Parenthood has no business being used as a political hot potato in the ongoing Affordable Care Act debate in Washington. I was pleased to see the senator state so definitively that not only did she think it was an unnecessary component of the discussion, but also that she would not vote to deny Alaskans access to the health care services that Planned Parenthood provides. Alaska already faces too many barriers to quality, affordable health care and we simply can't afford to make it even harder for Alaskans to get the care they need.
— Kathryn Hoke
Anchorage
The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter under 200 words for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.