Birth Control

Like a lot of young women, Kelsey Webb, 25, has been off and on birth control pills since she was 18. Every time she started taking them, she gained 5 to 10 pounds. "My normal weight is around 125 pounds. On the pill, I would get up to 130 or 135," says Webb, who is 5 feet, 5 inches tall. Last time, however, Webb, who lives and works as a nanny in West Los Angeles, gained 25 pounds. Over two years, she went from 125 to 150 ? despite running 25 miles a week. She stopped taking oral contraceptives last May, is down to 142 pounds and is working to get the rest off. "I blame it all on the pill, which I will never, ever take again.

Dr. Jackie Yaris' article about being aware of "everyday miracles" was wonderfully moving ["A Witness to the Birth of Everyday Miracles," Jan. 24]. What was not moving was the reality of babies being born to parents who cannot afford their hospital bills and who have no medical coverage. One story cited was of a 16-year-old; one was of a woman having her tenth child. California is financially desperate and still its citizenry must bear the enormous hospital costs of these families. It is high time we devoted ourselves as a society to a widespread awareness of birth control; this would certainly be freeing to poor women who are not aware of their many choices.

Your editorial (Dec. 28), "A Groaning Planet," implies that birth control is the only solution worth consideration by nations still burdened with rapidly growing populations. This may not be true at all. D.J. Hernandez of the U.S. Census Bureau examined the research on demographic changes in 83 countries and concluded that the best studies have found little net effect from family planning programs. Why? One answer is supplied by Frances Moore Lappe of the Institute for Food and Development Policy.

The article "Birth Control as Penalty for Child Abuse" by Alan Dershowitz (Op-Ed Page, June 4) brought to mind my days as a Catholic college student where the dean of students, a wise old nun, lectured, too frequently we thought, but her words were full of wisdom and they were, "People who have rights also have responsibilities." Over the years her words have remained a part of my life. I think the same advice applies to the young girl who abandoned her children. Think of the psychological damage to all the individuals involved in child abandonment--of the sadness, guilt, and frustration which the young mother must feel.

In response to "U.S. Catholics' Stand-Off Holds on Birth Control," by Frances Kissling, Commentary, July 23: Kissling is outraged by Catholic teaching that "there is no 'licit' sexual activity outside of a sacramental marriage" and by the statement of one orthodox priest that "there are worse things than dying of AIDS, namely, dying in a state of mortal sin." She bemoans the societal problems of AIDS, teen pregnancy, population pressures, and sexual abuse by priests (rightly so)

Only 40 years ago, within the memory of millions of Americans, birth control could not be legally sold in some states, even to married couples. If President Bush and his allies in Congress are successful, the future could look much like that past. For some Bush supporters, religious beliefs about when life begins or about interfering with "natural law" justify limiting access to common forms of birth control.

The ancient Greeks and Romans probably had an effective, widely used oral contraceptive derived from the sap of a North African plant that was harvested to extinction, two researchers say. The plant-- silphion to the Greeks and silphium to the Romans--was a species of giant fennel that grew near Cyrene, an ancient Greek city-state in North Africa. According to records, the plant was exported and was worth more than its weight in silver.

Even as angry Catholic leaders vow to fight a new federal requirement that most employers include contraceptives in their health insurance coverage, the Obama administration believes any political damage will be limited because it's on the side of women's rights. Democratic strategists think voters who oppose President Obama because of the birth-control rule wouldn't have voted for him anyway. The strategists think most Catholic women — like most other American women — believe that birth control should be affordable and available.