Author Archives: Mary Krane Derr

To the editors: Cate Plys’s “No Choice” (April 17) contains a most telling revelation: “Prochoice activists argue that abortion costs pale compared to the cost of prenatal care, delivery, and subsequent medicaid and welfare payments for the child.” Of course tax-funded abortion is less of a strain on the public purse. Of course it is […]

To the editors: Florence Hamlish Levinsohn’s article on parental notification laws [“A Girl in Trouble,” August 17] contains a large number of problematic statements. For the sake of brevity I will comment on three of these. First of all, she speaks as if service workers involved with helping teens and their families were uniformly opposed […]

To the editors. The June 1 issue of the Reader contains not just one but two pieces which reiterate cliched and largely unfair stereotypes of prolifers. Rose Pike [“Health: Whatever Happened to Birth Control?”] portrays antiabortion sentiment as the purview of a “religious right” fringe element which cannot abide the thought of any nonprocreative sexual […]

To the editors: Apparently Jean Peterman [Letters, October 20] misunderstood my October 6 letter. I did not say or imply that prochoice supporters fail to advocate a whole range of reproductive options. On the contrary, I recognize and respect the efforts of prochoicers who strive to create better choices for women and children even as […]

To the editors: The prochoice activists interviewed in Florence Hamlish Levinsohn’s September 15 article seemingly assume that all abortion opponents are maliciously unconcerned about the possible consequences of a legal ban. But certain prolife groups have developed model legislation which calls this supposition into question. Consider the Women’s Right to Redress Act promoted by Feminists […]

To the editors: Achy Obejas’s piece on the prolife picketers at Lutheran General Hospital [Our Town, May 19] leaves the impression that abortion opponents are motivated by a horror of nonprocreative sex. As a representative of a prolife group which contains a goodly number of gays, lesbians, and contraceptive users, I can safely say that […]