Lori Nickla responded to my letter concerning the abortifacient nature of ECP and the fact that other “contraceptives,” including the pill, Norplant implants and IUDs, can function as abortifacients. First, let me state that the effectiveness of alternatives to contraceptives, such as the Billings Method and Sympto-thermo Method, have high success rates, each over 99 percent, and are completely safe and natural.

Ms. Nickla asks what I am willing to do to solve the problem of unplanned and/or unwanted pregnancy. She asks if I, personally, can solve this problem alone. In honesty, no. However, I don’t need to solve it alone, as I am a member pro-life family that has many organizations that offer aid to pregnant women and their children. I will speak of only two of the many great organizations out here, in the “real world.”

Catholic Charities offers a variety of services for a pregnant woman, including counseling services and medical expense programs; it also acts as a licensed child placing agency. The waiting list of childless couples alone is so long, they only accept applicants for adoptive parents once every 18 months.

Birthright also offers many services, including free pregnancy tests, maternity and infant items, counseling, medical and legal referrals, temporary housing, financial grants, materials on adoption and practical assistance. Both of these organizations are available here in Ames.

All human life is sacred. If there is a pre-born person with a disability, either physical or mental, they should not be discriminated against in their right to life. If a child is conceived as a result of rape, in which the rapist disregards the dignity of the victim in a very violent and heinous manner, the response should not be for someone else to step in and disregard the dignity of the conceived child and his/her right to life through an act of violence against both mother and child.

I wish we lived in “LaLa land” sometimes, where life is considered sacred and all children are considered precious. Since we don’t, however, we’ll just have to work at making the real world more like it. One way to do this would be to share our time, talent and treasure with organizations like these, who are committed to the preservation of the dignity of human life.

Patrick A. McLaughlin

Graduate student

Chemistry