Morning-after pill not abortion; widespread availability needed

I am writing to congratulate Kaila Wyman on her Sept. 26 article about the morning-after pill ("580 students receive morning-after pill"). Many students do not know that it is offered on campus and is an effective way to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Articles such as Ms. Wyman's help educate ignorant students who do not know the purpose of the morning-after pill.

For example, the student who was quoted as saying "I'm strongly against abortion because of my religion. Highly against it." Plan B is not the abortion pill. The pill consists of high doses of hormones that can interfere with fertilization and inhibit implantation of a fertilized egg. It does not abort unborn fetuses. Due to a lack of education, people are unaware that the morning-after pill is generally safer than many other drugs currently available without a prescription. For this reason I would encourage students to sign a petition at http://www.feminist.org that will help make emergency contraceptives available over the counter.

Unfortunately, emergency contraception is time sensitive; the first dose must be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. The pill becomes even more effective when taken within the first 24 hours after intercourse. However, doctors' offices, including Campus Health Services, are closed on weekends and in the evenings. This is when unprotected sex is most likely to occur, making it extremely difficult for women to access a prescription within the limited 72-hour time frame.

Emergency contraceptive pills safely and effectively prevent pregnancy in cases of unprotected intercourse, birth control failure and sexual assault.

It is estimated that by making these pills accessible over the counter, they have the potential to cut in half the number of unintended pregnancies in the United States, and prevent as many as 800,000 abortions a year.

Clearly, emergency contraceptive is an important backup method of birth control and will substantially increase women's control over their reproductive health if made available without prescription. Thanks again for bringing attention to this important issue!

Aryn Moran
women's studies senior

Bikes should be outlawed to keep campus pedestrians safe

This letter is in response to Lisa Schumaier's Sept. 26 article titled "From off the beaten path."

Pedestrians have always had and will always have the right of way, and if Lisa could muster up enough brain cells to read the signs posted around campus, she would also know this. If she is going to directly threaten to assault another student on campus just because they do not cater to her bogus needs, she is idiotic. Lisa, being a journalist, should know that if she has a problem with a person or group of people, threatening them is not the correct way to go about it.

The fact that every day when heading to class a student's safety is put at risk makes no sense. Pedestrians cannot head from one class to another without being put in harm's way because of the bikers. I should not have to look both ways when walking on the sidewalk, or change my path.

Hey all you bikers: the campus is a mere nine-by-nine blocks long . Walk to and from class ÷ if you live off campus, park your bike at one end of the campus and walk the rest of the day.

According to the bicycle information that is provided on the UA Web site, riding a bicycle on a sidewalk, in a parking structure or in a building is not permitted. Bikers tend to zoom past us pedestrians while walking on the sidewalk, leaving us to wonder what would have happened if we would have taken a quick left turn.

Lisa brings up the point that "Bikers do not talk on these apparatuses of destruction while riding," in reference to cell phones. In fact, bikers tend to quite often talk on cell phones, ride with more people than the bike is designed for, ride without proper safety procedures and ride with no hands. In between classes, the fact that students stand on the sidewalk talking to one another or on a cell phone is a completely valid act.

An ample solution to the problem brought up by Ms. Schumaier would be to not allow bikes on campus any longer. The fact that there are services provided for free to the students to get to and from classes, as well as the size of the campus, all make bikes unnecessary in daily life.

Brody Burns
undeclared freshman

ÎPatriot' ready for war, despite pleas of peace-activist Îcowards'

To Jessica Lee (Re: "According to Bush,I am a Saddam lover," Sept. 30): What I want to say is, if you can't take the heat, then get out of the kitchen. Peace demonstrators like yourself are nothing but a nuisance. In a glass jar is exactly where you belong.

I and many other Bush supporters would agree that the last thing we want to hear is, "Don't attack this or that," or, "Peace for all, blah blah blah blah blah!" Most of the time, the only way to get peace in this world is to make war. If you want to rebuke me and say that this war is unjust and just an excuse to up our gas privileges, then you're full of it. What if I say that the involvement that Clinton put into Kosovo and the several other irrelevant outside influences on the world was just a "wag the dog" move to distract the Unites States from his sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky?

Your peace "activism" is nothing but a thorn in our side when we try to pass our mile tests. It is saying, "Oh this hurts and it is bad for me ÷ I should stop and just run when it's too late, and I'm running for my life!" All war has its ups and downs, and you're not going to solve anything by staying on the sidelines while our enemy plans to threaten our country ÷ which it has been doing for the past decade! Do you honestly believe that if we try and even succeed with making a peace contract with Iraq, that they still won't bother us? Yeah, that would probably just be a repeat of World War II.

And you say ministers are on your side? Listen sweetie, the only professors and people who are peace activists are the liberal bureaucrats who believe we should spend more time on saving the environment than trying to keep the citizens of this country secure.

Then you'll probably say that a war will threaten our lives. Every job has its perks and downs. I have just as much risk of dying sitting here at this computer as you do at yours. So what? That's why I'm a patriot. If you call yourself a patriot, you wouldn't be as afraid to die for your country. Peace activists are cowards. That's the bottom line. I don't want to have to listen to cowards.

Annie Feld
AFROTC Cadet